


Stranger Things on the Western Front

by she_who_the_river_could_not_hold



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Western, Billy is in this but not tagged, Gen, Genre-Based Violence (mild), Slow Burn, Swearing, and it's not the focus - Freeform, but it's going to take the majority of the story, everyone gets together, keeps his canon behavior abusive and no redemption sorry, no but really take that slow burn tag seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-04 11:11:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14019021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold/pseuds/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold
Summary: Like all good western stories, this one starts with a bank robbery. It’s the final straw for Max Mayfield and she finds herself riding into Fort Hawkins to place a bounty on her step-brother. There she ends up putting together a ragtag group of teens to help her, spearheaded by the grouchy sheriff. It’s not her ideal scenario, but long nights in the wild west can bring together even the strangest party.





	1. A Bounty is Placed

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this has been an adventure in the making! This story evolved from a series of moldboards I made a while ago which can be found [here](https://she-who-the-river-could-not-hold.tumblr.com/tagged/stranger-things-on-the-western-front), and it is finally becoming its own story! I can’t promise it’s going to the most accurate, but oh well it should still be fun and it’s an AU after all right? A huge shoutout to the insane support on Tumblr for this story, I hope you enjoy!

The sun bakes down onto the desert ground, the sky a brilliant bright blue as it stretches across the horizon. The only wind there is the one that’s blowing through Max Mayfield’s hair as she urges her horse to gallop faster with a nudge of her heels.

 

There’s not even a question that it’s Max’s dream weather for riding. It’s a hot day, as it always seems to be, but with her hair flowing behind her and skirt hiked up, she’s able to catch the breeze and keep herself cool as she slowly straightens her legs to come to more of a standing position on Zoomer, a tawny Saddlebred. They moved as one thanks to growing up together, companions from nearly day one of both of their lives. As a small child, Max had toddled into the stables just in time to see the foal taking its first steps. Blue eyes had met brown and immediately they had formed a special connection that still lasted to this day. 

 

In front of her, towering plateaus shoot out of the ground into impressive forms, breaking up the otherwise flat landscape. Her horse does a small leap over a pile of rocks and small, fat cacti. Zoomer’s body shudders at the landing. A lizard dodges out of their way, hissing as it makes it way back into the shadows and out of the sun’s intense rays. 

 

Even when she was younger, she had felt drawn to the open landscape of the area around her hometown, and every time she rode out, it was getting harder and harder to return.

 

Before long though she knows that she really does need to turn back, if nothing else if not for the gurgling sound in her stomach. She had already eaten the small roll of bread she had snagged on her way out and the small metal tin of water strung across her body was nearly empty.

 

Zoomer’s chest expanded under her legs and she felt their breathing sync as she eased the reins to the side to angle the two of them in a new direction.

 

They eventually slow to a gentle trot, Max adjusting her straw hat that had fallen back on her, the cord catching on her neck and keeping it from flying off. She turns her head up to the sun and takes a deep breath. 

 

She knows it’s unrealistic to imagine never turning back, never going home. But when she’s out here, alone with her beloved horse as her only companion, sometimes it’s all she can think about.

 

“Alright Zoomer,” she said with a slight groan, leaning forward to stroke his mane. “Let’s go home.”

 

He neighs in what feels like resigned disagreement and she absolutely agrees.

 

* * *

 

It’s not that Max had always hated going home. While she had always loved these rides, she used to still enjoy returning. She knew that she would bring her horse into the stables to her father’s smiling face where he would ask her what adventures she had been on. Her mother would walk out to feed the chickens before dinner. And maybe, if Max cleaned the living room fast enough, they’d take a trip into town. Her dad would grunt and groan but he’d always find a way to put her on his back and she’d regally wave to their neighbors who would match her enthusiasm from their doorsteps. 

 

Everything was amazing. 

 

Until it wasn’t.

 

Working in the mines came with its known risks, but even then it was easy for the Mayfields to live in a blissful world where those accidents didn’t happen to them. But one day Max opened the front door to their old neighbor, a man she had grown up calling Uncle Cal, and he’s wringing his hands as tear streaks shine against the dirt on his face. Max is frozen until her mother’s scream breaks the silence, her outcry happening without needing to hear a single word uttered. 

 

The following two years had been a blur before coming to a screeching halt. The day her mother remarried was one that was burned into Max’s mind, her twelve-year-old self unable to shake the pure rage she had felt that day. Her mother in her old wedding dress, now a soft yellow with age, as she placed her hand in this other man’s hand. A hand that Max would later see slam into the dining table when her mother accidentally dropped a glass of whiskey. A hand that would strike her new step-brother across the face when Billy would come home from school with bad marks. It was because of that hand that Billy became inspired to terrorize Max, using his overly large teen hands to tug at her red hair as she walked by or push her head into the nearest wall when he felt like she was being too stupid. 

 

She despised those hands that belonged to her new step-father, the man that changed them to the Hargroves and moved them further into the bustling town, away from her childhood memories and the farm.

 

While there had been a pulsating pain of living with the ghost of her father’s memory, moving to town hurt too. Luckily they were able to keep a couple of the horses, so Zoomer came with her and when the opportunity would arise, she would escape out to the wild and ride as far as she could push themselves. It was how she would escape the suffocating silence from her mother and the outbursts from the two men of the house. 

 

Today’s ride was shorter than she would like, but she’s confident that it’ll be okay for her to return. She had seen Billy storm out of the house while she had been saddling up Zoomer, so the odds were good that he would be gone the rest of the day. She had grown used to the rhythm of monitoring her life around his schedule, but she simply didn’t feel like she was able to contain her anger around him as much as she could when she was younger. It felt like it was simmering underneath her skin, her blood so close to boiling but stopping just short. She didn’t know what the line was, he hadn’t crossed it yet, but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

 

The two arrive back into town just as the sun has dropped closer to mid-afternoon. A trickle of sweat creeps its way down her neck and she tries to adjust her hat on her head so that none of the old women in town would bother her about her knotted hair from the wind. They meant well, they just couldn’t seem to understand that _Max didn’t care_.

 

She keeps Zoomer at a lazy walking pace as they make their way deeper into town. Just when she was considering the possibility of swinging by the general store to see if they had new horse feed in, her thoughts were broken by the sound of shouting followed by a gun shot. 

 

It feels like her heart stops when another shot rings out.

 

“Stay here Zoomer,” she whispers as she quickly slides off of him, tying his reigns to the fence post outside the shop they had stopped in front of.

 

Gathering her skirts in her fists, she began to run towards the commotion.

 

There’s a crowd of people surrounding a building, which upon her reaching them, turns out to be the bank. Which can never be a good sign.

 

Sure enough, the front door to the building is completed busted off of its hinges and Max can barely see over everyone’s heads. But when she spots the hand in the air waving the gun, it doesn’t take long to figure out who’s at the root of all this. And when he shouts, her suspicions are confirmed.

 

“I swear if anyone else comes near me I’ll shoot ‘em too!” Billy roars above the ruckus.

 

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck._

 

She breaks through the people with an aggressive use of her elbows and stumbles into the open, finally able to see what’s going on.

 

Max is treated by the sight of Billy standing on the old wooden porch, his handgun drawn as he swings it back and forth at the crowd. In a burlap bag that she recognizes as one that had previously held chicken feed in it, it looks like he’s stuffed it with money and it’s slung over his shoulder. More unsettling than that is the moans of pain that can be heard coming from inside the bank and the man on the ground clutching at his chest in front of the porch. Blood is beginning to dribble out between his fingers.

 

Her eyes glancing quickly from the injured man back up to Billy, she tries to figure out what’s best to do. It turns out she doesn’t get to think too long about it because her step-brother’s eyes fall onto her. 

 

“Maxine!” Billy yells out, his voice tinged with a sense of mania. Max feels everyone’s gaze swivel to her and her face heats up.

 

“What the hell do you want Billy?”

 

He gestures towards the crowd with his gun before giving her a helpless shrug.

 

“We’re family right? Get me the fuck out of this mess,” he commanded, his lip curling up into his signature sneer that he had perfected over time. This one looks like how he sneers when he’s drunk too, the lip pulling up a different way and the slightly glassy expression covering his eyes. It made Max nauseous. 

 

She shook her head adamantly, taking a minuscule step back and praying that he didn’t notice the movement. The last thing she wanted him to see was her trying to get away, not while he had a damn gun in his hand. He had never been a good shot but it was too close of a range for him to entirely miss.

 

He barks out a laugh, hardening his stare.

 

“You’ve always been a shit sister anyway. I always knew it was stupid of my father to marry your mother. Load of help either of you have been to us,” he scoffs, taking his gaze off of her only briefly to aim the gun at a woman who had inched forward towards the injured man, who was beginning to grow quieter.

 

“Hey, watch your mouth son.”

 

The new voice that breaks out belongs to a man who steps halfway in front of Max. It’s Uncle Cal, now with graying hair at the temples and he stands protectively in between her and Billy.

 

“Billy Hargrove, you’ve really, really fucked this up. But I promise that if you put that gun down, we can still fix this,” he said calmly, holding his hands up as he eased entirely in front of Max.

 

Billy frowns, his nostrils flaring out.

 

“Just because you’ve got some special connection to Max and my step-mother doesn’t mean I give a shit about you old man,” he responded aggressively, eyeing the man’s feet cautiously as he moved closer.

 

Cal kept his gaze steady, taking another step forward. 

 

“Put. The gun. Down.”

 

The crowd has now gone silent as they watch the interaction between them. Max spots the sheriff idly walking up, his eyes narrowed and hand on his holster. But he doesn’t seem too intent on interfering and Max has a suspicion it has something to do with the late night poker games he plays with her step-father a couple nights a week.

 

It’s when Cal takes one more step forward though that the spell that has fallen upon everyone is broken. 

 

Panicking, Billy grunts and quickly fires his gun in Cal’s direction. The sound of the shot seems to reverberate even louder than the others and the crowd reignites in a clamor of noise. Cal drops to his knees, clutching at his shoulder, and Max, along with others, rushes forward to catch him from falling over. 

 

Billy takes the chance to dart, propelling himself off of the porch and shoving past people.

 

Just beyond the bank is his horse, an angry stallion that seemed to only respond to his touch when they had purchased him. Billy yanks himself up onto the saddle, shooting at one of the young deputies who was nervously chasing after him. 

 

Max’s head flies up at the sound, watching as her step-brother begins to make his getaway. Two of his friends sneak out of the shadows of the buildings, following after him on their respective horses as well.

 

Swearing under her breath, Max starts after them but realizes her attempt is futile when Zoomer is in the other direction.

 

* * *

 

“What the hell do you mean we’re not going to do anything about this?”

 

Max can’t believe her ears and she stops pacing, turning to glare at her step-father. He was sitting at the kitchen table, rubbing his forehead in frustration. 

 

“Maxine, I’m not going to repeat myself the rest of today. Billy has made his decision, and seeing as how he has left town, he’s not exactly our problem any more. Got it?”

 

His voice is that low growl that it becomes when he’s irritated and Max bites her tongue to stop herself from arguing back. They’re teetering on that dangerous edge of how far she can push him and she doesn’t want him to snap. She can’t decide if he has a point or not either. Sure, Billy isn’t there anymore, but he did _shoot people_ and had stolen from _their_ bank. Surely that meant that it was their responsibility to prevent him from carrying on and potentially ransacking other towns. Or even worse, shooting and maybe killing more people. Max wasn’t even sure if Uncle Cal was going to make it and at best he would lose his arm, something that would make any type of independent living out in the West impossible.

 

When he scrapes his chair back, Max’s mother grips the counter a little tighter and Max swallows every retort she had sitting in the back of her throat. However, he just gives them a warning glance that can easily be interpreted as that this conversation is over.

 

Max knew there was no love lost between Billy and his father, so she supposed it made sense that he wanted to just wash his hands of the whole thing.

 

She wasn’t him though. 

 

After he had grabbed his jacket and hat, leaving the house with an instruction for dinner to be ready when he got back, Max stormed off to her room. The silence coming from her mother wasn’t anything new, she didn’t expect her to put herself in the line of fire. But it still hurt every time. And she knew that she was right about this – they had to do something about Billy. 

 

Sitting on the edge of her bed, ideas began to swirl in her head as she tried to figure out what to do. Obviously a bounty would be the best thing to do, but she wasn’t sure how exactly she was supposed to go about doing that. 

 

Especially the whole money part. 

 

The sheriff in town was clearly out. Her step-father was probably even on his way to him now as she sat there. 

 

So what was she supposed to do? 

 

Chasing after him was clearly a questionable decision but at this point she felt desperate. Her father had taught her how to shoot before his death, but knowing that Billy had two other guys with her made her balk at the idea of just going after him all by herself.

 

Max was losing track of how much time had passed, now laying on her bed. She had exhausted every option she could think of and she knew that soon her step-father would be back and that would be the end of all of this.

 

But just when she felt her eyes beginning to drift shut, her bedroom door creaked open and her mother’s tired face poked in.

 

Her eyes widened in curiosity, Max slowly seated herself as her mother stepped in, cautiously looking behind her before easing the door shut. 

 

She’s holding something and Max recognizes the old canvas from when she was a child. This was something of her father’s.

 

But when her mother holds it out to her wordlessly, there’s an unmistakable jingle from within the bag. 

 

When Max doesn’t respond, her mother shoves the small bag of money towards Max again.

 

“Take it,” she whispered urgently, shaking the bag slightly in her direction. “Take it and go. Find someone who can help us.” 

 

Max was stunned, almost unable to move for a minute as she looked up into her mother’s frantic face. It was all happening so quickly. But at the third shake of the bag, her body took over for her mind. Grabbing it, she quickly spun around to grab her hat and canteen. Her mom went over and began to slowly push the small bedroom window open, trying to keep the creaking to a minimum and so as not to alert Max’s step-father who was no doubt on his way back by now, if not already almost in the house.

 

She wasn’t even aware of how long she had been holding her breath until she turned to face her mother again and it all came out in a rush. 

 

The two Mayfield women stared at each other for a brief moment before a hesitant hug.

 

Max would never have claimed that she and her mother had the best relationship. It’s not that they had a bad one, but it had always been just a bit more distant, especially when her father had been alive. They’d grown closer since the new marriage, but it was still a cautionary distance as they tiptoed around the men in their life.

 

But now Max felt their kindred blood running through them, and recognized that her mother was someone who did what she had to do.

 

And right now, that was stealing from her husband in order for her only daughter to go after her step-son.

  
The hug was quick though in order to keep things moving, her mother slowly backing away and nodding towards the window. She then slipped back through the door and back to the kitchen where the sizzle of dinner filled the place. There was a murmur, a confirmation of the return of her step-father, and Max knows it’s time to leave.

 

Even though when she was younger she wished for a larger house so that it would be easier to escape from Billy, she was now thankful for the smaller house when she dropped to the ground from the window. A cloud of dust billowed up around her and she noticed a small child on the porch across the way staring at her. With a small wave, she slunk around the house towards the stables. She could only hope that her mother was going to be able to distract him from coming to the back window, but if they were eating dinner then it was a safe bet that he would be distracted for a little while.

 

Zoomer’s large brown eyes blink lazily at her while she darted around the small stables out back, pulling together his saddle and anything else she thought they might need.

 

The left side of the house has nearly no windows, so if she can carefully lead Zoomer out they’ll be free to get out of here. She waits to climb onto his saddle, gently leading him around the house with herself on the other side of him. Worse comes to worst, it’ll hopefully just look like Zoomer is just wandering off by himself. 

 

Luck is on her side though, probably thanks to years of sneaking out, and she grins as a small celebration for getting this far. She adjusts the pouch on her side and slings the bag of money around her shoulders along with her water. 

 

It’s time to ride.

 

With that, she climbs up onto Zoomer’s back and he begins to gallop out of the town. She has no idea what’s to come but she knows that she’s going to make things right.

 

It seems like a lifetime ago that Max had been riding Zoomer that morning, the sun beating down on her as she rode into the distance. That had been about escape.

 

Now she had a mission.

 

While they had slowed down after initially leaving home, she kicked them into a higher gear now and Zoomer snorted as he picked up his pace. They were chasing the sun at this point, holding onto the last hours of daylight as it dipped closer to kiss the earth. She had never been outside of town at night and she prayed that somehow they’d picked the right direction to get to the nearest other settlement. She vaguely remembered being to one as a child but the only direction she knew by heart was the way to the buttes that she rode towards. 

 

It’s been maybe an hour when she sees the walls of a fort rising up above the grounds and a wave of relief washes over her. 

 

When they pull up to the fort, she can tell it’s smaller than where she grew up. It’s not necessarily a bad thing though and she still feels the hope holding onto her heart. Once they’re close enough, she gently pulls Zoomer to stop so she can get down from him. They make their way into the fort, not having to stop for anyone at the gates and she wonders if this place doesn’t exactly experience anything strange enough to warrant putting guards up.

 

She’s a bit into the fort when she finally sees a person sitting on a rocking chair on the porch of a small house. 

 

“Excuse me,” she calls out, waving her hand to get the person’s attention. “Can you tell me where I am? And how to get to the sheriff as quickly as possible?”

 

The old man looks confused, but the nonetheless lifts a shaky hand up to his mouth, and calls out his answer to her, “You’ve found Fort Hawkins. Sheriff Hopper’s over there right in the center of town.”

 

Max yells a thanks back and tightens her grip on Zoomer’s reins as they make their way deeper into the fort. The afternoon is getting later and the sky is fading into a deeper purple as dusk began to take over. The fort is much sleeper compared to her home, but she finds the peaceful nature to be relaxing. She briefly wonders what her life would have been like if she had grown up here instead. 

 

That seems to be all she can think about, almost as a way to process the situation.

 

Because really, any potential life path has to be better than the one she’s on right now. Chasing down her violent, criminal step-brother all because so many years ago her father had died in a mining accident and her mother had needed to be remarried.

 

Maybe here her father wouldn’t have been a miner, maybe here he could have owned a small shop and she would have run up and down these streets, never knowing or worrying about the Hargroves.

 

But that wasn’t her path that she was on. Right now she was in a strange fort hunting down their sheriff to place a bounty on her step-brother.

 

Determination taking over again, she rolled her shoulders back and continued her journey further into the fort. Soon enough, she spotted the sign above a slightly leaning building, the chipped paint spelling out “SHERIFF,” single-handedly lit by a couple of lanterns. The setting sun lit up the rest of it just enough that she could see a couple figures moving around inside. Good, that meant someone was here.

 

Slipping out of her saddle and to the ground, she gave Zoomer a gentle pat on his neck before tying his reigns to a post. Taking a deep breath, she shook her hair back and put on her best confident expression she could and made her way into the building.

 

There’s a young deputy resting at a table when she first walks in, humming to himself and tossing a crumpled piece of parchment up into the air. He barely glances over at her when she walks in and she almost laughs out loud at how pretty of a person he is. She didn’t know men, especially someone working with the sheriff, ever bothered to keep their hair in that good of condition. The man with the styled hair seemed to know that she wasn’t there to chat with him and nodded his head towards a back room.

 

“Sheriff Hopper is in the next room if that’s who you’re looking for. If it’s for something really small though I can probably help,” he says, though as he tosses the paper ball back up into the air again it’s clear he’d rather _not_ help her. 

 

She nods in recognition of his directions and makes her way to the right into a smaller room. The musty smell of the place is a mix of the earth and dust, as if this place is just a sleepy fort out in the middle of nowhere (which, she supposes it is). 

 

True to the deputy’s word, there’s a man sitting at an old wooden table. He’s got a newspaper in hand, his large black hat tipped just far enough down on his face that she can barely see his eyes as he appears to skim the headlines. He doesn’t bother looking up when she walks in. Sighing, she strides forward and drops the bag of money onto the sheriff’s desk.

 

“I’d like to place a bounty.”

 

Expression startled, he slips his feet off of the desk and motions towards the bag, dropping the newspaper into his lap and tilting his hat back into its proper position on his head.

 

“Mind if I look?” His voice is gruff and skeptical.

 

With her arms crossed against her chest, Max nods towards it, challenging him.

 

His jaw goes slack as he looks into the bag, bringing his hand to rub against his beard as he observes the girl in front of him. This was definitely not how he had been expecting his evening to go.

 

“That’s a lot of money for a little girl to be running around with.”

 

“I’m sixteen, I’m not a little girl.”

 

He rolls his eyes at the statement (classic teenager) and leans back in his chair, contemplating her. Max straightens up her posture even more, doing her best to seem completely in charge. Like hell is she going to let some sheriff boss her around, especially one who would be a fool to reject her offer. She didn’t count it but she knows there’s a lot of money in there.

 

“Okay, what does a not-little-girl need with a bounty? Who am I theoretically hunting down?” He pulls out a thin cigar and puts it between his lips.

 

“I want to put a bounty on my step-brother.”

 

The sheriff chokes on the inhalation he had just taken of the cigar, bending forward to cough out the smoke that he had accidentally swallowed. He clearly hadn’t been expecting that to be her answer and Max can’t fight the pride that comes out with throwing his composure off. Good. Maybe he’d stop assuming things and take her seriously. 

 

“Okay,” Sheriff Hopper starts slowly. “Let’s say I do this, why are you putting a bounty on this step-brother of yours?” 

 

“Besides being an abusive asshole?” She couldn’t keep herself from snorting. “He shot multiple people and robbed a bank, those seem like solid enough reasons to me.” 

 

“Where’d you say you’re from again?”

 

The question throws Max off guard, so she cautiously responds with “Junction Crossing,” waiting for the sheriff’s reaction. He sighs and rubs at his beard again, his gaze flicking between the money and her. 

 

“I don’t know kid,” he finally says, standing up out of the chair with a stretch.

 

Max’s jaw dropped and she had to refrain from stomping her foot like a child. 

 

“What does that have to do with anything?”

 

“I’m not interested in stepping on Sheriff Calloway’s toes. I don’t need that kind of trouble.”

 

“That’s ridiculous,” Max seethed through her teeth, her temper just shy of flaring. “Calloway isn’t going to do jack shit about this. And that should be clear since I’m here wasting my time instead of off hunting Billy with that clown of a sheriff with me. He’s a crook with a badge, who also happens to have a good relationship with my step-father. So yeah, there’s a reason I’m here.”

 

Hopper isn’t sure what to make of that statement if his face is any sort of giveaway. Bringing his cigar up to his mouth, he takes a couple more puffs as he contemplates what she said.

 

“How about we both sleep on this, and I’ll think about it. It’s not likely, but I’ll think about it. That good enough?”

 

He reached his hand out to her and Max begrudgingly matched it halfway to shake it. 

 

“Deal,” she responded with a slightly defeated tone. Clearly this was going to be a little bit harder than she was expecting.

 

Making her way back out to the front, she gave the deputy a small wave before beginning to make her way out. Evening had fully taken ahold of the fort and she could hear crickets in the far off distance. Louder than that though was the rumble of her stomach in hunger. She heard a chuckle behind her and turned around with a grimace to see the deputy smiling at her as he grabbed his jacket. 

 

“The saloon down the street also has food if you don’t have any on you,” he offered.

 

Max nodded. There was no way she was going to make it without dinner tonight, and she was probably going to have to stay in the fort overnight anyway. And hey, maybe she could convince someone there to take the bounty in case the sheriff didn’t.

 

“Tell the bartender that Steve sent you, she’ll know what that means,” he said with a grin that bordered on cocky and friendly. Max was pretty sure she liked this Steve guy (jury was still out on Sheriff Hopper).

 

True to what Steve said, there was indeed a saloon just down the street. It was decently alive for it just now reaching dinner time, the echoes of laughter and general rowdiness could be heard from the porch as Max pushed the swinging doors open. She was greeted by the hazy smell of smoke and a warmly lit room, much larger than the exterior appeared. It was a surprisingly mixed group of people. The majority was of course men, like she expected, but a group of young women sat circled around a table with each other. Some much older men sat together while young pre-teens appeared to be playing darts in a back corner, next to an intense game of poker. 

 

Making her way further in, Max smiled as a mother carried a sleeping blonde girl out. It seemed odd that a saloon would be a center point of the fort, but it certainly seemed to be a small enough one that everyone gathered where they could.

 

Approaching the bar, Max called out a tentative hello to get the bartender’s attention. She was startled when the person turned around, revealing that she was actually probably right around Max’s age. Okay – definitely not what she was expecting.

 

Brushing some stray brown curls out of her eyes, the girl reached across the bar. Max hesitantly reaches out to reciprocate the handshake, mentally noting that either this was a common thing in the fort to shake everyone’s hand or this girl and the sheriff learned to do it from each other.

 

“I’m El, you must be new in town,” the girl said, her soft voice still managing to carry across the bar even in the crowded saloon. 

 

“I’m Max. How’d you know I was new?”  


El chuckles to herself as she begins cleaning out a recently used glass with a rag. 

 

“It’s easy to spot new people. Fort Hawkins is small, I didn’t even grow up here and I know everyone here. New ones aren’t hard to find. Plus,” she adds on with a smile, “you looked absolutely lost when I spotted you first walking in.”

 

Max lets out a semi-embarrassed laugh, seating herself on one of the bar stools. Alright so she might have not put on her best face for when she had walked in, she’d admit that. And it was probably something to work on if she was going to be taken seriously around here.

 

“Well you assumed correctly, I just got in a bit ago. Though I’m hoping I won’t stay too long,” she explains, skirting around the issue of why she’s actually there. She doesn’t want to go blabbering on about Billy until she feels like she’s found some people that could properly help.

 

El hums in understanding. She’s clearly fallen back into the rhythm she had been in before Max had interrupted her and she watches as the girl goes about her job. With a towel slung over her shoulder and her nimble hands, El manages to clean half of the empty glasses on the bar _and_ pass out a few rounds of whiskey without missing a beat. She looks like she’s been doing it all of her life, which feels crazy since Max has determined that there’s no way this girl is any older than she is.

 

“You mentioned you didn’t grow up here, how’d you get here?” Max asks her, attempting to strike up more conversation. She figures if anyone knows people that could help, a bartender no matter how young is probably a good starting point.

 

El doesn’t pause in sliding the shots of whiskey down the bar, but a shadow seems to cross over her eyes. It’s fleeting, and when she looks back up at Max it’s gone, though she knows what she saw. 

 

“It’s a long story. But my dad knew I needed a fresh start and this seemed like the best place, we came about four years ago.”

 

Her answer is cryptic and Max isn’t sure what to make of it, but she knows better than to pry. So instead she tries to steer the conversation into a lighter direction.

 

“So you’ve been bartending here since you were what – twelve? Thirteen?” Max asks with what she hopes is a teasing tone, conveying that she won’t pressure El to explain why she came here. El luckily picks up on it and her grin is back, lighting up her face as her button nose scrunches up.

 

“Not quite. I would originally hang out in here while my dad came in after work to play cards or get a drink. The bartender at the time, Callahan, was nice enough but not very good at his job. No one had the heart to say anything, but one day I guess I had been sitting there long enough at the bar trying to entertain myself when I noticed he had made a drink wrong. And the rest is history,” she says, finishing her story with a laugh.

 

Max finds herself laughing along with El, picturing a tinier version of the girl perched at the bar telling the bartender how to correctly make drinks.

 

“I became a quick learner and it turns out I’m a good listener,” El was continuing, waving as two men made their way out of the saloon and they tipped their hats in response.

 

Max wasn’t able to answer back though before another person sat themselves down next to her.

 

“Another round of beer for the table, I’ve got those gentlemen exactly where I want them,” exclaimed the new voice.

 

As El got around to pouring the beer, Max adjusted herself so that she could see this new companion that had joined them. She was greeted by a guy, probably a fellow teenager, with a wide, toothy grin and a mess of curls creating a halo around his head.

 

“Well hello there, are you friends with El?” His tone is lighthearted and Max feels herself smiling alongside with him.

 

“Oh, not quite. I’m just in for the night,” she clarified. “I’m Max.”

 

“Dustin, nice to meet you! Well if you stick around, El is definitely a good friend to have. And not just because she knows how to make a mean drink,” he said teasingly as El placed some beer on the bar in front of him. The girl simply smiles and resumes her work.

 

“Oh! I forgot to mention, I was told I should come here by a deputy. He said his name is Steve?” Max said suddenly, remembering her earlier conversation.

 

Dustin nearly choked on the gulp of beer he had just taken.

 

“Steve! Of course he did, he knows what’s good around here better than anyone else. How did you already meet him?” Dustin’s voice is excited and his eyes are shining as he refocuses his gaze on Max.

 

Max stumbles over her thoughts for a minute, trying to explain herself without entirely giving it all away. This was quickly becoming a conundrum. 

 

“Oh… well I have a personal matter that needs – uh, attending to. Yeah. So I stopped by the sheriff’s office and I guess he works there.”

 

Dustin opens his mouth to continue to ask her questions, the curiosity clearly written on his face, but El had decided that was enough chatting for now.

 

“Go and finish your game,” came El’s voice from under the bar where she was grabbing more liquor. “And when you’re done taking everyone’s money, grab the other boys. I think Hop is bringing Lucas and Steve over after their shift. I’ll get Benny to go cook some dinner for everyone.”

 

Max opens her mouth to ask if “Hop” is short for “Hopper,” because she’s having a hard time imagining that El is talking about the sheriff she just talked to but this place seems too small for it to be a coincidence, but she’s interrupted once again. But this time it’s much less welcome than the arrival of Dustin.

 

A man’s hand has dropped down onto her shoulder, sweaty and grimy from probably working outside all day, and there’s that sickly sweet smell that only comes from drinking too much whiskey. A coldness settles in Max’s stomach at the stench and forces herself to slowly turn her head to meet this newcomer. 

 

It’s a man easily in his late thirties, with messy stubble and a cocky grin underneath his black cowboy hat. A long white scar traces down his face and Max has to try to keep her gulp of nerves to a minimum.

 

“Well hello there darlin’ I don’t think I recognize you,” he drawled out.

 

“I suggest you remove your hand from my shoulder before I do,” Max found herself saying through clenched teeth, managing to keep her voice stable while feeling her heart erupt into a frantic fluttering.

 

Looks like men could be horrible in every town.

 

Dustin next to her had tensed up and out of the corner of her eye, Max saw a tall, black haired teen suddenly stride over from a table to take a stance behind El. But she refused to lower her gaze from this man and give him the satisfaction of making her cower.

 

“Is that a threat? From a little thing like you?”

 

He turned to his buddies who all chuckled, mistakenly taking his eyes off of Max who quickly reached into the pouch at her waist to pull out her small pistol. When she cocked it, the sound silenced the men and they all stared at her in shock. 

 

“Two options,” she said lowly. “You either leave here now, or I shoot your hand off of me.”

 

He frowned, forehead creasing and she could see his mind working around the proposition she gave. Finally he spit out some tobacco on the floor. 

 

“This one isn’t worth it,” he growled, lifting his sweaty hand off of her shoulder. “Doubt she could hit me though, little girls are starting to carry around these things without knowing what to do with them.”

 

The three men began to make their way out of the saloon, the first man’s two friends in front and him trailing behind.

 

A shot rang out and the entire saloon fell quiet, turning to see what had happened.

 

The man reached up for his hat, his hand shaking as he took it off of his head.

 

A hole went clean through the center of it, piercing through both sides of the top. Just high enough to have missed his head and keep him alive.

 

When he and his friends turned, Max was lowering her pistol down, her chin raised defiantly and a hard look in her eyes. They were damn right she wasn’t worth it. 

 

“I think it’s time you gentlemen took your leave,” came a voice from the porch. 

 

As Chief Hopper stepped into the light of the saloon, the men muttered apologies and ducked back out into the night. Behind Hopper, Steve lets out a laugh and does a slow clap as he gives Max a wink. Following the other two, steps in a new person that Max hasn’t met. He’s tall and his worn, white shirt stands out against his dark skin, almost as much as he stands out in the otherwise overwhelmingly white fort. He has an impressed grin on his face and he nods his head towards her as the two make eye contact. Max feels herself smiling back at him, not used to the feeling of an instant connection to someone. She’ll try to figure that out later.

 

Hopper comes up and ruffles El’s hair, before motioning to Max and Dustin.

 

“Dustin, tell the guys that you’ll finish your hand later. You,” he says now directly pointing at Max, “I want you to come sit at this table and we’ll talk.”

 

Max finds herself sitting at a large round table. Across from her is Hopper, Steve next to him (looking unnervingly delighted at everything that has been going on). Dustin bounds back over, leaving a disgruntled group of poker players behind him, grabbing the seat next to Steve. The boy that had followed behind the two officers sat down next to Max, shaking her hand and introducing himself as Lucas. His hand is warm but calloused and she makes a note to ask him later what he does for a trade. The figure that had appeared next to El just earlier turned out to be a tall, gangly teen with messy curls and a lopsided grin. Though he couldn’t erase the hesitancy that he had in his eyes as he looked at Max while he sat down. Following him was a smaller boy, a sketchbook in hand and a soft smile that he gave to Max as he sat down. El waved at them to start as she began to chat with a bald man with a large beard, appearing to give him instructions and pointing to their table.

 

Shifting anxiously in the chair, Max turned her gaze to Hopper. He was staring at her contemplatively, but gone was the earlier look of skepticism.

 

Just when she’s going to say something, anything, he speaks.

 

“Okay kid. Looks like you can handle yourself, which is all I can ask for. Let’s start from the beginning though – tell me what it is we’re exactly doing and we can figure out what we’re going to do about that step-brother of yours.”

 

A smirk stretches across Max’s face and she leans forward, placing her forearms onto the table as she begins to launch into her story.


	2. Matters of the Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The unexpected arrival of Max shakes things up for the party, but it’s Nancy’s turn to be surprised when Jonathan Byers returns to Fort Hawkins after years of being away. It turns out that things can change over time, some good and some bad. Decisions are made and some things are less clear than there were to begin with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the support on the first chapter!! I’m hoping I can keep a steady pace with this one, but I’m going to try to finalize my other two fics soon as well so if there’s a lull in this one that’s why. Enjoy the chapter!

“Alright everyone, feel free to eat your lunch and run outside to get some sun. I’ll ring the bell when it’s time to come back in!”

 

Nancy Wheeler watches with a wry smile as the group of students in front of her immediately begin to buzz with excitement and group off. The older children in the back sort of slink out of the schoolhouse, boredom etched across some of their faces. The littlest ones shriek and run about, some immediately diving into their lunches while some of the others race each other to get outside, knocking into the legs of a couple of the pre-teen girls. 

 

It’s the first week back in the school house and all of them are tan and freckly, most of them having spent the summers outside or helping their families out with work around their houses. The jitteriness in them reminded Nancy to take it easy as she eased them back into the longer days of learning when she knew they’d rather be back outside. Maybe today she’d give them a bit longer of a lunch.

 

She’s just moving back to grab her own lunch from her desk when she spots a figure hovering in the open doorframe to the building. 

 

This figure certainly doesn’t belong to one of her students, though it isn’t until he steps out of the sun’s glare and into the classroom that Nancy recognizes him.

 

“Jonathan!” she exclaims, dropping her small satchel of food and running over to her childhood friend. 

 

He’s ready for her embrace, sweeping her up into a hug and spinning her around. A couple of the little girls in one of the corners all giggle to each other as they watch the reunion. Jonathan sets her back down and she immediately pulls back to get a better look at him.

 

“Hello,” was his simple greeting, his usual bashful smile gracing his face and proving that he was still a man of few words. His eyes are as warm as she remembers and his hair still flops a bit into his face, even as he tries to push it back. Nancy feels her cheeks crinkle up into a wide smile.

 

“It’s been too long,” she says almost breathlessly as she seats the two of them down on the bench seats nearest to them.

 

“I know, it’s hard to believe it’s been three years,” Jonathan responds, taking a look around the classroom. “I see they finally let you teach,” he adds one with a proud smile.

 

Nancy laughs, echoing his movements as she looked around them before her eyes landed back on him. 

 

“They did indeed! Took some convincing but now they love me as the school teacher, so I think I’ll be set for a bit. As long as I don’t ruffle too many feathers.”

 

Grasping his hands, she leans forward.

 

“Tell me all about Philadelphia, there’s nothing exciting here back in Hawkins. Tell me about what it’s like living out there. Your train must have only arrived this morning.”

 

Jonathan begins to describe to her the bustling city of Philadelphia, how industrial life is taking over there and more people are interested in coming out west. How it never seems to sleep and for some people they thrive off of that. His long days as a photographer’s apprentice, learning under the man, Charles Wilson who had first showed up to their fort four years prior on his trip out west to photograph landscapes. Wilson had seen the talent in him during that stay and had managed to convince Jonathan’s mother that it was the right decision to let Jonathan come back east with him. It had been a successful three years, but then Jonathan got to the part of his story about why he was back.

 

“Then one day a telegram arrived. My ma’s running out of money quickly and the farm is starting to fall apart. She can’t get anyone since – well, she’s just having a hard time right now,” he said, stumbling over his words a bit as he confesses to Nancy. 

 

He hates admitting that his family is in a hard spot. That he is only back because he has to help out, because the Byers can’t handle it. It’s a stinging slap to his pride.

 

Nancy’s gaze grows soft and sympathetic and she rubs his knuckles gently, just like she used to when they were little and they could hear his father shooting at small animals in the fields of the Byers farm. 

 

“I’m so sorry Jonathan.” 

 

Desperate to try to bring back his crooked smile that she adores, she tries to conjure up a teasing smile, “Are you having to leave behind anyone special back in Philadelphia?” 

 

That startles him and he his eyebrows shoot up under his hair.

 

“Oh! Oh. No, no there isn’t anyone back there,” he stammered.

 

She settles back against the bench, releasing his hand as she lets out a giggle.

 

“Don’t let Flo or any of her friends hear you say that,” she said back, giving him a knowing look. “They’re finally leaving me and Steve alone, they’ll absolutely focus on you if they think you’re still an eligible young gentleman.”

 

The small grin that had been forming on Jonathan’s face falters as he processes what Nancy said. Eyes narrowing (and if Nancy’s able to catch it in time, an expression of hurt), he cocks his head.

 

“You… and Steve?”

 

The question hangs awkwardly between them.

 

There are flashes in Nancy’s mind of years gone by. Her and the two boys running after small lizards that they thought they could catch barehanded. The three of them laying out at night, watching the stars fade into view in the deep violet sky. Her and Steve holding Jonathan’s hands as his younger brother twisted violently in his seemingly never-ending tortured sleep. The three of them standing at the train station in the next town over as Jonathan prepared to embark on a new journey that none of them had ever imagined could be a possibility.

 

In all of her memories, Nancy can’t find one where she felt as far apart from Jonathan as she does now. 

 

Jonathan feels his heart lurch at the onslaught of images that flash through his mind of _her and Steve_ and he tries to shake them away. Nancy’s staring at him nervously, her teeth chewing on her lip.

 

He hadn’t expected this. 

 

It was silly to imagine that things wouldn’t have changed, that time would have stood still while even he himself was growing. But the pain that’s shooting through him, centralized in his heart, tells him another story. That he thought he’d come home and everything would be the same. That they’d still be the three best friends that he had always known, not him on the outside watching as Steve now officially courted Nancy and created an invisible wall of expectations between all of them.

 

“I should go,” he said abruptly, unable to even try to mask his emotions. _Shit he was bad at this_. But he couldn’t sit here. “Ma will be expecting me back at the farm soon, we need to look over the books. You know, see where we stand with livestock and everything.”

 

Nancy stands up with him, their movements jerky.

 

This wasn’t how she had wanted a reunion to go (though if she was honest with herself she had felt for over a year that she and Steve had lost Jonathan to the east and hadn’t even dreamt she would be reunited with him).

 

“Of course,” was all she managed to say back, her voice coming out stuffy. 

 

She made sure they hugged before he walked out again, each of their movements hesitant as if suddenly meeting each other for the first time. Nancy cursed the pangs in her heart as he shrugged his dusty black travel coat back on and tipped his head goodbye to her as he made his way back outside.

 

She fell lost in thought until she felt a small tugging on her skirt, looking down to see a young girl standing next to her.

 

“Miss Nancy, why are you crying?”

 

The quiet question nearly made Nancy burst into tears, but she instead quickly wiped her cheeks and put a smile on her face.

 

“It’s just always emotional seeing old friends Clara. Now how about you go back to your lunch before we get ready for the second part of our day?”

 

As she seated herself back at the front desk, pulling out her own food, Nancy tried to put her finger on what the emotions were that were crashing over her.

 

* * *

 

Hours later, after being back home for a little while in the evening, Nancy determined that today was absolutely not her day.

 

The Wheeler household from the outside seemed like it was supposed to be everything it should be. A happy, large family with a traditional mother, father, and three children. Their dad was a businessman, originally having moved out west with the prospect of opportunity (the real opportunity was moving to a place where no one knew how boring he really was). Their mom stayed at home during the day and would cook and clean, giving herself alone time when she could to relax. But as the kids grew older, the small silences between comments began to grow, expanding and taking over whole conversations. Her mom’s alone time begins earlier and earlier each night, with more and more bottles of wine. 

 

Tonight is one of the few nights where there is an actual argument.

 

Nancy isn’t even entirely sure what it was about, something about the dinner not being right and something about how her dad would have picked up the right meat if he ever bothered to get off his ass – _sorry Holly darling –_ and did something for himself for once.

 

After an abrupt end to the meal and helping her mom wash the dishes, Nancy grabbed one of the quilts off of her bed and made her way out to the front porch of their large house. Her dad was at the kitchen table, smoking a pipe and reading the newspaper while her mom sat in the sitting room, a large glass of wine already in hand and a far off look on her face that clearly stated she didn’t want to talk to anyone.

 

The air was rapidly cooling, a fascinating effect that still surprised her after even the hottest days and the sky was a deep indigo as the last hours of the day slipped away. Sitting herself down onto the wooden planks, Nancy cocooned herself in the quilt and tried her best to let the stress of the day’s events follow the sun. She had just tilted her head back to see if any stars had come out yet when she was interrupted by the slamming of their front door. Craning her neck around, she saw Mike stumbling out onto the porch, do a poor job at being discreet if that had been his intention.

 

He let out a small noise of surprise when he saw her sitting on the steps.

 

“Oh! Hey Nancy. I’m not sneaking out, I swear,” he said quickly as he began to make his way down the stairs.

 

He’s trying to juggle a collection of empty wine and beer bottles, remnants from various nights ofthe Wheeler family drinking game – which parent can ignore the other the longest while drinking the most alcohol.

 

Nancy lets out a low chuckle when she sees it all.

 

“You didn’t want to see how big that pile could get in the corner of the kitchen?”

 

Mike looks down sheepishly at the bottles in hand and it makes Nancy pause, her heart melting a bit and seeing flashbacks to a much younger Mike crawling into her bed to hide during thunderstorms. 

 

“Mike, you can tell me what you’re doing.”

 

“Fine,” he says shortly, looking back up at her nervously. “I’m going to go practice shooting, I took the gun you keep in your dresser.”

 

Nancy allows herself on indignant burst to come out before calming down.

 

She’ll have a conversation with him later about going through her room, but for now she can tell that he needs all of the help he can get.

 

They make their way across the Wheeler land, stomping down on the ground as they go. Ted had bought the land for cheap when the fort was changing from being a military one to a civilian one. It was unnecessary of course, they didn’t farm or do any sort of thing like that. But the land was a status symbol and it made him proud and Karen happy. Eventually the two siblings reach the south end of the land, the one furthest from the house in an attempt to keep their parents from hearing them.

 

It’s when they’re marching back, after placing the bottles on various fence posts, that Mike opens up about what spurred all of this on.

 

“I’m still not even sure I trust this Max girl. I get Hopper needing to be involved, he’s the sheriff. But I don’t know. After she told us the whole story last night it’s all the guys can talk about,” Mike explained, his brow scrunched together as he recounted everything that he had learned the night before.

 

“You don’t trust her but you’re going to go try to help with the bounty against her step-brother?” 

 

Nancy felt confused at her brother’s thought process, not for the first time in their lives.

 

“Well… it feels ridiculous, but I’ve read a lot of books. Journals of explorers, stories of adventurers. I feel like I would mentally know what to expect. And other stuff I guess,” he explains. The way he leaves his statement open-ended makes Nancy eye him suspiciously, but doesn’t say anything.

 

“But since Dad never bothered to show me how to shoot a gun, I’m doing it myself,” Mike declared with a sense of bravado. Perhaps sounding a bit more confident than he felt.

 

As if to prove how ready he was, Mike raised the small handgun up and fired at one of the fence posts up ahead. 

 

He jerked back as the gun recoiled, a small but mighty one, and the bullet shot forward. The lack of visual or auditory cues gave the unfortunate indication that Mike had completely missed.

 

Nancy stifled a giggle.

 

“Mike, you’re not exactly the fort’s biggest fan or user of weapons. It’s okay.”

 

Mike instead, however, ignores her and furrows his brow deep concentration, puffing his cheeks out as he focused in on the fence posts. 

 

He missed again.

 

When he quickly reset up, pink patches of frustration had formed on his cheeks and his hand shook just slightly.  Nancy reached out and steadied him. His shoulders sagged and he lowered the gun, scuffing his foot on the dirt.

 

“It’s stupid. Why is it that my older sister can shoot better than me, my best friend is one of the best shooters in this damn fort, and I’m such a klutz at it?”

 

“Well for starters, I had people teach me,” Nancy clarified with a smile.

 

Mike looked up at her at that, his eyebrows arching inquisitively. Damn him and his ability to pick up on absolutely everything.

 

“People?”

 

“Steve and… Jonathan. It was when we were younger, they decided to help teach me since obviously Dad would have never considered it.”

 

She inwardly groans at the audible voice crack that happens when she says Jonathan’s name, And she definitely doesn’t miss the small smirk that Mike’s trying to hide.

 

“I take it you saw him today then?” 

 

Mike’s got that voice he does when he’s ramping up to tease her and Nancy gives him a warning look. His innocent shrug does nothing to calm her nerves.

 

“Yes, I did see him. Apparently no one decided it worth their time to let me know ahead of time that he was coming back. Seeing as how we’ve been best friends my entire life and just maybe I would want to know that he’s coming back home.” 

 

When Mike stays uncharacteristically quiet, she finds herself continuing.

 

“I’m obviously happy he’s home. Everything has felt so incomplete without him here with me and Steve. But things have changed clearly. And there’s a tension that was never there, and it’s unfair because he was gone so of course Steve was going to court me. But now he’s back. I don’t know… I guess I’m torn.”

 

It’s a rare moment for her to open up to Mike. They normally just banter and yell at each other as any generally amicable sibling duo can. 

 

But as he’s grown older, and especially tonight, Nancy feels like it’s okay for her to say all of this to him. 

 

Mike nods slowly, taking in what she said.

 

“I guess it’s hard to control what our hearts want,” he replied, suddenly very interested in his shoelaces.

 

The heavy moment of Nancy’s almost-confession (of what she’s not even sure of yet) is broken by his statement and Nancy nearly giggles. 

 

“Mike Wheeler, are you in fact referencing a certain Jane Hopper?”

 

Even in the night with only the glow of the lantern that Nancy had brought with her, she could see the bright blush deepen on his cheeks.

 

“First of all, she prefers to go by El. Secondly, no.”

 

Nancy shook her head, handing the handgun back over to him.

 

“You’re a terrible liar, I hope you know that. And for someone who spends the entirety of his days with his nose in a book, you’re incredibly clueless. She’s completely in love with you. She probably has been for years,” she said, enjoying the ridiculous grin beginning to form on her younger brother’s face. 

 

He coughed nervously and shifted from foot to foot, clearly pleased with himself but also still seemingly hesitant about the whole thing. Knowing she wasn’t going to get anymore out of him, Nancy rolled her eyes and nodded for him to try shooting again. She knew that she was going to work out things with the two men in her life, but it was starting to look like clueless romantics was a trait that ran in the family.

 

_She wasn’t going to comment on the racy novels she had found under her mother’s bed once._

 

“Well, if Chief Hopper says that you can join what are you going to tell Mom and Dad?” Nancy asks, pulling the blanket tighter around her as the desert temperature continued to drop around them and trying to change the subject.

 

Mike let out a snort, taking aim once more at the empty glass beer bottle on the fence post out ahead of the two of them.

 

“I don’t know, tell them I left the country or something,” he mutters, firing the gun and there was a shattering of wood splinters that exploded into the night air.

 

Okay, so they would need some time tonight. But Nancy was determined to help.

 

* * *

 

The next day dawned cloudy and gray, thunder rolling across the sky as gray clouds billowed up above the horizon. In the far off distance, streaks of lightening traced the sky to the ground.

 

The energy of the weather that morning was only matched by the fierceness in Max’s face while she made her way to visit Chief Hopper. As she marched her way in, Steve scrambled to get out of his seat while calling out to Hopper that they had a visitor just in time for Max to storm in and plant her hands on his desk.

 

Hopper chokes on the swig of water he was taking and gives Max a stare down.

 

“When I said you could stay at my place in El’s room, I hadn’t expected my office to become yours as well,” he said dryly, but there wasn’t any heat behind it.

 

Max pointedly stared back at him.

 

“Any updates on this bounty hunt? We can’t let Billy get too far ahead.”

 

Hopper nodded his head side to side in a casual, noncommittal way. 

 

“Working on figuring out a crew,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like the best idea to go after the three of them with just the two of us. Even if you did showcase your talent last night.”

 

Max sighs, stepping away from his desk and peering back out into the main room. She gives a subtle nod of her head and Hopper feels himself growing increasingly confused. That is until suddenly one by one, the party begins to filter in. First is El, followed by Lucas and Dustin, and then Mike and Will.

 

Lining up in front of his desk, they all gave him an expectant look. 

 

“Okay, what are the rest of you all doing in here?” Hopper demanded, his eyes darting between all of the teens’ faces. 

 

He sounded less than pleased at the change of events.

 

The party looked at each other quickly and then just returned to looking at him.

 

“It’s simple,” Lucas said with a small shrug. “We want to help. And we’re all more than capable.”

 

“Well I know you are, you’re the best sharpshooter in the fort thanks to training with Scott,” Hopper responded almost crossly. “And no offense to the rest of you kids, but you’ll have to otherwise refresh me on why you all should come with.”

 

El tilted her head down, giving him a hard stare.

 

“Okay not you,” he grumbled, turning his attention. “Alright Henderson, convince me.”

 

Dustin flashed what Max now realized was his signature grin, as he gave her a slightly shoulder bump.

 

“Well our new friend here, Max, mentioned how wild Billy’s horse is. You, and this entire fort, know that I’m one of the best animal handlers here. And if you catch up to him, you’re going to need someone to reign in that horse before it knocks one of you off. Or manages to allude you and carry him off away from us.”

 

It’s a very fair point. Hopper had been there when Dustin had talked down the rabid coyote that had climbed into Eleanor Gillespie’s wagon. No one else had gone near it, even as it cornered the frantic woman, until Dustin bravely (foolishly?) climbed in and managed to coax it out safely and send it on its way. 

 

They still hadn’t figured out how he had done it.

 

Hopper grunts in agreement and turns to Will and Mike.

 

“I’ve known you two kids for a while, please tell me something good because I’m going into this already very unconvinced,” he says. 

 

Mike does his best to keep his expression neutral, though he wants to secretly scoff at the sheriff’s comment. He’s not _that_ out of shape anymore and he’s finally grown into his body. As as he peaks over at El, her large round eyes staring at him encouragingly, he finds him standing straighter and his voice comes out stronger than he could have hoped for.

 

“Nancy has been teaching me to shoot. I’m a fast thinker and I’ve read all of the books about great explorers, I know how to plan. I can get us out of anything that comes our way,” he declares, impressing almost himself and Hopper by the look on Hopper’s face.

 

Will, in turn, gives a small smile and a wave of his hand.

 

“I don’t really have a selling point for myself. But I know I’m not worth much at the farm right now, on account of being too weak. Plus all of my friends will be going, so why not? I can be an extra body and take care of other things for you guys. It’ll beat being stared at here,” he finishes with a downcast look.

 

He hadn’t meant to do the small action, but Hopper grimaces at the thought of the young Byers kid being picked on by the people of the fort. He’s done what he can to shield his family but it’s impossible to stop it all. He sighs. 

 

“Okay kid. Just… let me be with you when you try to tell your mother you’re going out on this adventure.” 

 

Will’s eyes light up and he and Mike share an excited look. If Will is cleared, there’s no doubt they all can go. And with the way Hopper is now leaning back in his chair, rubbing his beard with a resigned expression, it looks pretty official.

 

Max smiles triumphantly, looking at the group around her. Lucas gives her an extra large smile back and she feels that flutter echo in her chest again. To not let herself get distracted, she looks back at Hopper.

 

Steve coughs awkwardly from the doorframe. He’s been listening in with an impressed look on his face, having watched nearly all of these kids grow up from awkward little kids to the teens he now saw before him. He felt ridiculously proud of all of them, and especially Dustin thanks to years of helping coach the kid to have more confidence in himself. But as he feels the conversation lull, he figures he should probably intervene.

 

“So, uh what do you want me to do? Am I coming with?” He anxiously runs his hand though his hair, trying to figure out how exactly all of this was going to work.

 

“That’s a negative there Harrington, I’m going to need someone to look after the fort while I’m out,” Hopper replied with a quick shake of his head.

 

Steve almost seemed relieved, nodding to himself and then excusing himself out of the room to head back to his desk. 

 

The teens all begin to clamor around Hopper’s desk, a million questions flying at him. He holds his hands up and barks out a quick “hey!” to get them to calm down.

 

“Alright,” Hopper said, sweeping his gaze across the group of them. “Go back to your homes and pack your things, explain to your parents what’s going on. If you they say yes, meet me here tomorrow morning. We’ll leave at dawn.”


	3. The Journey Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family goodbyes are given and the party makes their way out in the open land of the Wild West. All journeys have to start somewhere, and a good place to start is learning a little bit more about your companions. You never know when there will be some bumps along the way (and some new friends).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of another long one! A lot of stuff leading up to more action, but I really wanted to explore more of the relationships in this chapter! Enjoy!!

Joyce Byers could barely believe her ears and her jaw dropped in disbelief.

 

“You–you want to do what?” she asked with a sputter, her hands nervously running through her somewhat tangled hair as she stared at her younger son. 

 

“Joyce,” Hopper tried to intervene but she gave him a quick glare before turning her gaze back to Will. 

 

“Mom I already told you. I’m going to help the party out, I can be an extra body for them. Plus I’ve already been able to help draw up a handful of wanted posters,” Will explained again, trying to keep the pleading to a minimum. He gestured towards the stack of parchment paper that littered their dining table, each one with a carefully rendered image of Billy thanks to Max’s detailed descriptions.

 

Jonathan stayed silent, watching everyone carefully. He felt torn at how much he should intervene, not wanting to upset anyone further. He had walked in about halfway through the discussion, one that had been hurtling towards an outright argument, and had hung back. It had been so long since he had been around his family that he still felt like he was wrestling with reminding himself that he had a place here. 

 

And he certainly wasn’t about to get too mixed up in something that was clearly between his mom and brother.

 

Joyce let out a deep exhale, biting her lip in nervousness. There’s a streak of flour on her cheek from when she had been attempting to pound out a chunk of dough and the bags under her eyes haven’t lightened up yet.

 

“But you just got better,” she finally said, her voice soft with reluctance. 

 

“I know Mom,” Will said, reaching forward and holding her hands tightly in his. “But I’m not a baby anymore and I’m not sick. I’m not strong enough to help on the farm, but I can help them. I can do something.”

 

She lets out a small, broken sniffle. 

 

“I guess I’m just not ready for my boy to leave me,” she replied with a hint of a grin, giving Will his clue that she’s going to let him go.

 

A wide grin breaks out on his face and he squeezes her hands in understanding.

 

Truth be told, he’s nervous too. 

 

He hasn’t really done much lately, feeling like he’s been in a perpetual state of recovery. And he knows this might be risky. He needs this though. He needs to go out and do this.

 

Will has always known that he’s lucky with his family situation, even as different as it is. Even as the women in the fort gossip about a single mother. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. The closeness between him, Jonathan, and his mother is more than he could ever ask for. She did everything she could for them (and maybe more than she even was capable of at times), and he’d never be able to thank her enough. Their tiny farm house had always felt warm and big, Joyce creating the best world she could for her two boys.

 

But now it was time for him to recover his strength and even his own self out in the real world. 

 

Joyce gives a watery-eyed grin over at Hopper, who was watching her with an undeniable look of concern. 

 

“You’ll look after my boy?”

 

Hopper awkwardly clears his throat, giving her a reassuring nod and a gentle smile (one that only ever appears around her). He can’t help himself damn it.

 

“Of course Joyce, I’ll protect him with my life.”

 

She lets out a deep sigh, turning to smile at Will. Jonathan finds himself smiling as well, proud of his younger brother for shaking off the past and taking these steps. Obviously not everyone needed to go out to find themselves. Everyone worked things out differently. But he could sense that familiar streak between him and his brother, and it was exciting to see that old spark return to Will’s eyes. 

 

“Well then,” she said briskly, glancing over at Hopper. “How about we make some dinner and then we figure out how much to pack for you? Hop you’re more than welcome to stay to eat.”

 

And that settled it.

 

* * *

 

It’s the morning of them leaving and Claudia Henderson was hurrying about their small house in a tizzy, trying to get everything together. Their family cat, a large fluffy orange cat named Mews, sulked in the corner trying to show his displeasure at the interruptions in the house. 

 

“Dusty, I just wish I had more time to prepare! I’m sure I can make at least three meals that I can distribute to the party, and then we’ll have to see where that leaves us…”

 

Her voice trails off as she disappears into the kitchen. 

 

Dustin and Steve glance at each other and sneak a snort of quiet laughter in. Mrs. Henderson always means well, but she’s also easily distracted. And there’s no way she’ll be able to make that many meals before they leave.

 

“You got Dart saddled up already?” Steve asked while they waited, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

 

Dustin nodded enthusiastically. 

 

“Just how you showed me! He tied up out front just waiting to go.”

 

Steve shook his head with a wide grin.

 

“I still can’t believe you tamed that horse. Hop had never seen anything like it and either had any of the other ranchers out here. Yet you just walked up and spoke right to it.” The awe in his voice was clear; he was proud of how well Dustin had grown up over the past few years.

 

Dustin smiled at his feet, scuffing his cowboy boots against each other as he struggled to accept the compliment. 

 

“Oh! I heard that Jonathan was back in town, have you guys hung out yet?” 

 

Dustin shrugged, his tongue poking quickly out of his mouth before he sighed and ran his hand through his hair (it was a usual nervous tick of his).

 

“Not yet, Nancy did already. She said it was… well I’m hoping I can see him soon. I really miss talking with him and I have a feeling we’ll have a lot to catch up on. And maybe some explaining to do,” he says, the last part more to himself in a somewhat forlorn mumble. Dustin feels his eyebrows raise as he watches Steve pick at thread on the back of the couch he was leaning against. Huh. That was an odd comment.

 

Just when he was going to ask him what all that meant, Claudia bustled back into the living room.

 

_Okay, mental note to remember to ask Steve to explain that when he got back._

 

Thrusting a couple of bags filled with food into her son’s arms, Claudia does her best to not let her lower lip quiver too much. Her Dusty was going on such a big adventure! Once it looks like he’s managed to get a solid grasp on each of them, she cups his face in her hands and looks deeply at him.

 

“Be careful out there, I can’t go losing you now okay? Remember who you are,” she said warmly, giving his cheeks a quick pat before stepping back.

 

“I suppose I should let you go meet up with them,” she said wistfully.

 

Dustin placed his hands on her shoulders, giving her a comforting smile. 

 

“Mom, I know you will do great while I’m gone. And you’ll have Mews, and I bet Steve will come by to check in on you. But don’t worry about me, I’ll be back before you know it.”

 

After another series of hugs (mainly consisting of those types of hugs where you keep thinking you’ve done the last one but then someone initiates another one), Dustin was finally ready to head out. Swinging his bag over his shoulder, he took one last look at his childhood home as he stepped out into the early morning. His mom is waving enthusiastically from the porch, Mews slinking his way around her ankles before settling into a seated position. He gives a wave back and adjusts his new, white cowboy hat on his head.

 

“Hey kid,” Steve says as make their way to where Dart is standing, waiting for them. “You’ll do great out there.”

 

He affectionately reaches out and ruffles Dustin’s curls, Dustin failing at his attempt to dodge it. But he smiles all the same, not actually minding the brotherly moment. He knows that if Steve hadn’t taken him under his wing years ago, he probably wouldn’t have had the confidence to do this. Wouldn’t have believed that he had it in him.

 

“You know you’re going to have dinner over here almost every night right? While I’m gone,” is all he says back as they make their way towards town. 

 

Steve sighs, running a head through his hair. He tilts his head back and forth a couple times, weighing the idea before speaking.

 

“I’ll take being called Stevie for however long it takes, if it means I get to eat your mom’s cooking,” he replies with a grin and a shrug.

 

Dustin nodded proudly. He knew he was leaving his mom in good hands.

 

* * *

 

They didn’t end up leaving right at dawn, as Hopper had first proclaimed.

 

But they did leave at a relatively decent time in the midmorning regardless and began their journey.

 

The ride so far had been uneventful. The first town over, over some of the hills beyond Fort Hawkins, hadn’t seen or even heard of Billy. It was a quick jaunt over though so they hadn’t wasted too much time, but they agreed that it was probably best to try the opposite direction. They’d cut past Junction Crossing and keep heading North. If Hopper felt the need, he could duck into the town and see if by any chance Billy had already returned or been brought in, but otherwise it was a safe bet to keep on pushing.

 

The first day is hot to say the least.

 

Yesterday afternoon’s storm had blown through aggressively, soaking the ground and rattling buildings with its rolling thunder. But now it had blown with it some of the cooler weather and left behind a cloudless, nearly unbearably hot day.

 

It was hard to grasp onto a sense of urgency, not when the oppressive heat felt like it was bogging them down. 

 

Hopper had taken the rear of their line, keeping them going at a steady pace by making sure no one went slower than him. At the front was Lucas, followed by Max and Mike, then El, Will, and Dustin. At first they had been silent, urging themselves to that first town. After that though, now that they were backtracking, they had relaxed and moments of conversation were beginning to pop up.

 

“Has Mike pulled his head out of his ass yet?” Dustin asked El casually, causing her to almost let out of a shriek of laughter before clapping her hand over her mouth.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied with a wink. 

 

Dustin groaned and rolled his eyes in the direction of Will who just shrugged with a laugh.

 

“I’m not going to be able to take it much longer, just watching him moon over you. Why can’t he just start courting you already? It’s not like you don’t like him.”

 

Dustin’s eyes grew wide, dramatically wiping some of the sweat off of his forehead.

 

“Wait, you still do like him right?” 

 

His voice raised a bit in his concern and El quickly hushed him, casting a glance up at the boy in question. Not so much a boy anymore though, not like the one who had first found her that night. The one who had helped get Hopper involved. But while some things had changed (he now towered over her in what was maybe her favorite change), the way he looked at her hadn’t changed. And she had a feeling that she gazed at him the same way she always had as well. 

 

Not that she’d say it out loud to Dustin quite yet (and certainly not before saying it to Mike), but she was pretty sure she did feel a lot more than just liking him.

 

“I still like him,” she confirmed though, to help ease Dustin’s overactive imagination and he grinned triumphantly. 

 

Okay so maybe she wasn’t quite sure why they weren’t officially courting. But maybe they didn’t need to. What they had together felt so much bigger than needing a label to satisfy the busybody’s of Fort Hawkins. 

 

But maybe after this bounty hunting journey she’d just take the reins on this whole situation and just ask him herself.

 

Up ahead, Max somehow found herself riding next to Mike, who was sitting tall on his horse as black as his hair. He seemed moody, brooding almost.

 

It was slightly comical to say the least.

 

But they were going to be on this journey together, so why not try to ease the tension between the two of them? So she eased Zoomer in a bit closer and cleared her throat to get his attention.

 

“It’s really neat how close you all are,” she said with a welcoming smile. “How did you all come together as a party?”

 

“We grew up together,” is his short reply.

 

It’s less than Max was hoping, hardly a conversation piece, but she’d take what she could.

 

“Nice! El is the newest one here right? How did you all ––”

 

“I’m here to help be an asset,” Mike said abruptly, cutting Max off. 

  
Her head jerked a bit in surprise, looking over at him. He had a sort of pinched expression on his face and the distrust was obvious. 

 

“Nothing more. I’m here to help my friends.”

 

Max snorted at that, taking up her reigns on Zoomer and giving him a a slight kick to urge him to speed up. 

 

“Suit yourself,” she grumbled, just loud enough that Mike could hear it before they made their way further up the line.

 

She didn’t know why it surprised her. She had seen that skeptical look on his face that very first night she had been there, and it always seemed to linger even when she would talk. It was frustrating to say the least, but at least he was here she supposed. And hopefully he’d be useful at some point in the journey. 

 

Luckily there were enough other people in the group, so it wasn’t hard to switch up who she was riding by.

 

She sees the back of Lucas up ahead and she impulsively pushes Zoomer up to come up next to him. He seems surprised at first but gives her an easy-going smile.

 

“Max! Tired of hanging back in the middle of the pack?” He teased, wiping some sweat from his forehead.

 

She rolls her eyes, nodding back.

 

“Someone isn’t excited to be here,” she said dryly. 

 

Lucas chuckled a little, twisting in his saddle to glance back before looking at Max thoughtfully.

 

“Mike is… not used to change,” was what he said cryptically. “But he also sometimes and picks and chooses when he’s comfortable with it, which can be frustrating. He and I tend to switch off with being stubborn about things.”

 

“So this time around it’s me that’s the problem, are you saying you’re fine with me?” Max feels herself adding an extra layer to that question and she nearly laughs out loud at herself. _Where had that come from Maxine? Get a grip!_

 

Lucas does actually laugh at that, giving her a grin that makes her heart skip a beat.

 

“Yes, I’d definitely say I’m fine with you being here,” is all he says, but Max feels like they’ve entered a new territory of conversation. 

 

“Well then Mr. Lucas Sinclair, you know a decent amount of my life story. How about a trade, tell me more about yourself?”

 

He falls silent for a minute, gazing out ahead before answering.

 

“I grew up in Fort Hawkins, but my parents didn’t. They met in Texas, where my father was a cowhand after the Civil War. He’d been hired out there and they met, but eventually they wanted something different so they came further west. Not every town is as… forgiving as Hawkins. But they settled there and we’ve lived there ever since.”

 

He continues, casually pointing at the two guns in holsters on his hips.

 

“Once I was old enough, my parents encouraged me to become a tradesman. A way to help ensure my safety out here. It’s a lot harder to be a target out here when you can do something, life’s too difficult. So I started out as an apprentice under our blacksmith, Scott Clarke. But it turns out he’s a retired ranger so he taught me how to shoot too.”

 

“Hopper mentioned you were the best shot in the entire fort,” Max added, enjoying the swell of pride (and just the smallest blush if she was seeing correctly) spread across his face.

 

“Well I think that’s pretty damn amazing,” she said quickly, looking away from him with a small smile. 

 

They ride silently side-by-side briefly, their horses moving in tandem. His sleeves are rolled up and sweat glistens on his skin, while Max pulls her hair to the side and over one shoulder. She feels the urge to ask him something, anything. But can’t quite decide what to talk about.

 

“My father is the one who taught me about horses,” she says abruptly. 

 

Lucas glances over at her, a little surprised at the outburst but remains silent, giving her an open look that tells her he’s willing to listen.

 

“Before he died… before all of that, he would sit me in front of him and he’s let me hold the reins with him while we rode. I’ve had Zoomer nearly all my life and it feels like he’s the last thing I have left of him. We live in a new house, my mother has a new name. So much of that past life is gone. I refuse to acknowledge Hargrove as my last name, not that town officials care. It’s about all I can do as a teenage girl. But Zoomer, he’s it. He’s my last connection.”

 

It all comes tumbling out, faster than she had meant to. Words she hadn’t exactly meant to say. She had been planning on asking him more about himself, but had instead accidentally revealed more about her own self. 

 

It felt weirdly comforting.

 

She furiously blinked away the tears before looking cautiously over at him. 

 

Lucas offered her a soft smile and she felt herself returning it. 

 

_There was that damn butterfly feeling in her stomach again._

 

“He must have been a great man,” was all he said.

 

Max opened her mouth to agree, but the rearing back of Zoomer cut her off. He let out a frantic whinny and rapidly pulled back, Max just barely hanging on to the saddle and reigns.

 

“Shit,” Lucas said quickly, before twisting back in his saddle. “Hop! She’s found a rattlesnake nest!”

 

And indeed she had.

 

When Zoomer dropped back down to all four hooves, he continued to almost dance nervously in place. In front of Max were three rattlesnakes, but as Zoomer tried to step back, there was another rattle and a hiss of a tongue. She had somehow become surrounded. The normally empty air of the desert, was now filled with the echo of their rattling and Zoomer’s frantic sorting as his eyes wildly took in their new companions. Max’s grip grew sweaty on the horn of her saddle, but she tried to keep murmuring calming phrases to keep her horse from startling one of the snakes. 

 

Hopper muttered something angrily under his breath before riding up from where he had been at in the rear of the group, his gun drawn.

 

“Don’t shoot!” Dustin yelled out, kicking his horse into action and quickly coming up to circle in front of Hopper.

 

“Dustin, I swear to god, get out of my way,” Hopper said in a huff, motioning his with gun for the teen to move. 

 

“No,” Dustin said flatly. “If you shoot and miss, you’ll make them feel threatened and then they might bite. They’re coiled up right now, we have no idea how long some of them could be.”

 

Hopper cocked his head, giving the teen as strong of a glare as he could but Dustin didn’t budge, Dart fully planting his hooves in the ground. Stubbornness ran in the family it looked like.

 

When it became clear that Hopper was going to let him direct themselves out of this situation, Dustin’s shoulders relaxed and he focused on the rest of the group. Will, El, and Mike were behind him along with Hopper. Dustin quickly directed them to do a wide arc around him, Max, and Lucas in order to get a wide berth. Rattlesnakes responded more so responded to vibrations and the last thing he wanted was all of them getting too close.

 

The others now out of the way, Dustin could now focus on the others.

 

“Okay Lucas, you’re more to the side. You should be able to just advance forward but see if you can angle your horse outwards to that it takes you further away right away,” he instructed, gesturing diagonally across from them. 

 

Lucas nodded, anxiously looking at Max before easing his horse up and away from them. One of the snakes closest to Max rattled warningly, but seemed otherwise unbothered by the movement. Leaving Dustin and Max to face off the rest of the snakes. 

 

“Okay Max, I’m going to try to get you out of this,” Dustin called out. “Just stay calm and do everything you can to stay on your horse. You do not want to drop to the ground, they could strike too easily at your ankles. Does that make sense?”

 

Max let out a shaky, long breath, nodding her head towards Dustin to indicate that she had heard him. Normally when she and Zoomer were out riding, they felt like they were flying over the ground as he galloped. Any sort of snakes that they would have encountered wouldn’t have even had time to register that they were there before they’d be gone, so this was a new experience for her. She was definitely not enjoying it. 

 

She realized that Dustin was still talking and tried to tune back into what he was saying.

 

It turned out though that he wasn’t talking to her, but instead to Zoomer.

 

Most of it seemed like nonsense, but also a relatively normal conversation considering he was talking to a horse. But while she felt confused at first, she picked up on the tone of his voice. It was soothing, soft. He was looking directly at Zoomer and he in turn was looking at Dustin. Max slowly began to feel Zoomer’s chest return to a normal breathing pattern, the frantic heaving he had been doing beginning to cease. The pacing he had been doing in place halted as well, his hooves now stationery against the ground as his body relaxed.

 

As Zoomer relaxed, Max felt the tension in her shoulders disappear as well. Dustin was telling some type of story, something about the time his mom thought a wild dog had eaten their cat but it turned out he had just been trapped in a kitchen cupboard. It was a funny one and she giggled some at it, but the the rhythm of his voice was calming and soon Max realized what had entirely happened.

 

She and Zoomer were completely still.

 

With their panic dissipated, they didn’t move anymore and the disturbance they had caused to alert the rattlesnakes was gone with it. 

 

Perceiving that the threat of the invaders had gone, the snakes began to slowly slither away. Some back into the ground and some off to find rocks that they could hide behind. And soon enough, Max was no longer surrounded.

 

“Holy shit,” she breathed, looking around her and back up at Dustin. “That was unreal!”

 

He simply gave her a smile before letting out a whoop to let the others know it was all safe. The rest of the party cheered, just a bit ahead of the other two.

 

“Shall we?” Dustin asked, dramatically waving his arm out towards their companions and the path ahead. 

 

“Let’s go catch up,” Max confirmed, giving a flick of her reins to get Zoomer back into action. 

 

* * *

 

Their journey returns to being peaceful at that. A quick pop into Junction Crossing on Hopper’s end (the other’s waited just beyond the town in case Max’s step-father was out), told them just that Billy was still out there.

 

By then the sun was beginning to dip lower in the sky, the end of their first day drawing near. 

 

Just when they think they’re going to have to spend the night out in the cold (which they knew was to be expected but it doesn’t mean they were excited about it), they rounded one of the edges of a plateau and the area opened up into a large plot of land. And just ahead was a small ranch house and a man out tending to what looked like a small garden, while a herd of cattle grazed just beyond the house.

 

Maybe they were in luck after all.

 

“Let’s hope he’s feeling hospitable tonight,” Hopper muttered to himself before nodding towards the others to follow him. 

 

They eased down the land in a straight line before eventually finding themselves in front of the house. While the land itself looked large, the ranch home had an almost cosy look to it nestled out here. The man stood up and gave them a welcoming wave, a jovial smile on his face. A kind face poked out from underneath a wide-brimmed hat, and Max actually felt hopeful after what had felt like an otherwise fruitless day.

 

“Can I help you travelers?” He called out to them.

 

He’s a relatively shorter man, with brown hair just beginning to gray at his temples. His face, as round as his belly, is looking at them earnestly. It seems like as good of a chance as any to take.

 

Hopper inches forward first, clearing his throat. 

 

“We were hoping we could stay for the night,” he announced, trying to ease his gruff tone into a more pleasant one. “If you don’t mind having some strangers in your place.”

 

“It’s no problem with me,” he replied with an easy-going grin at each of them. “My place is always welcome to those who need it.”

 

It didn’t take long then for them to get all set up, corralling their horses into his fenced off land for safekeeping and making their way inside. The man, who had introduced himself first as Robert but then insisted they call him Bob, was sitting at the dining table while Hopper gave him a brief description of what they were doing out here. He had been nodding along, he brows furrowed in deep concentration and occasionally letting out long _hmmm_ ’s and _mmhmm_ ’s in between the sheriff’s explanation.

 

“Here are the posters,” Will added on as Hopper finished his story, pulling the looseleaf papers out of his pouch that he had been wearing across his chest.

 

Bob reaches out and picks up one of them, the snarling face of Billy Hargrove looking back up at him. He traces the image curiously before shaking his his head.

 

“Can’t say I recognize the guy, but Blackfoot Crossing seems like a likely place for him to go to. Busy, lots of people there with income. You’ll just have to go North a bit, through some canyons, but it’s easy enough to find. Either follow the river or if you find the railroads take those, both can get you straight there. The sheriff there should be of use to your search. In fact now that I think about it, the other day I was up there selling some of my harvests there were rumblings about a string of robberies. Yep. I would recommend going there first.”

 

He hands the posters back to Will who glances up at Max. She’s standing rigidly behind him, Lucas just off of her side with a hand resting on her shoulder. The image gives Will a pause, but he shrugs it off and refocuses on Max. 

 

After all of this can be the time to discuss personal feelings.

 

Max has a strange expression on her face, her arms crossed tightly against her body. She feels like there’s a storm of emotions washing through her and she can’t help but be angry at herself for feeling this type of responsibility over someone she doesn’t even like. But she doesn’t believe that anyone else can fix this. She has to be the one that does it. 

 

And that he might be that close is both infuriating and reassuring. They might be on the right path without losing too much time.

 

But she’s also really not looking forward to seeing him again.

 

“Then I guess we’re leaving first thing in the morning for Blackfoot Crossing,” she says, her voice strong but giving away just a hint of the tiredness she’s been feeling after all of these years. 

 

She turns on her heel then and makes her way out to one of the rocking chairs on the back patio of Bob’s place, dropping herself into one so that she can watch the last sliver of light disappear on the horizon. Lucas wordlessly joins her and comforts her with his presence, no need to share thoughts out loud. She can’t even describe what this fast connection is adding to her life, but right now she knows she’s beyond thankful for someone to be her rock during all of this. 

 

She still hadn’t been able to process what had made her open up earlier about her father’s death. And after the rattlesnake incident their conversations had been lighthearted and casual. Him telling her all about his younger sister Erica (who they both had a feeling she would get along with), her about all of the cool things she had seen while going out riding. She wasn’t sure the last time she had felt so comfortable around someone, especially so quickly.

 

She wanted this bounty hunt to end quickly, but she wasn’t going to be ready to say goodbye to Lucas so soon if this all turned out.

 

Back inside, Mike and El settle onto the couch, Mike updating their travels in his journal he brought with. El’s feet are tucked under his legs and she’s resting her head on the back of the couch, staring at him contemplatively. 

 

Dustin had volunteered to feed the horses and after returning, had set himself up at the table and was practicing a couple poker hands by himself. He had made sure to sneak a small deck of cards into his knapsack for the trip for precisely these types of nights. As much as he had an itch for action, he had to admit to himself that he was okay with easing into all of this.

 

No need to panic.

 

Yet.

 

Will was casually chatting with Bob while the older man worked on preparing a small dinner dinner for everyone, explaining how he had grown up with an artistic eye and his mom had always scraped together what money she could so she could buy him the first art supplies coming in from the supply train. Bob listened attentively, asking him various questions and Will felt himself growing more excited as he spoke to him. It was rare to talk to anyone who didn’t know about everything from the past couple years, someone who wouldn’t look at him with sympathy. Hell, even Mike struggled to not be overly protective with him still. 

 

But this felt like a fresh start. Or at least the beginnings of one. 

 

He wouldn’t have ever guessed leaving the fort would have been the secret to it all. Before that time when he had been gone, trapped in an endless sleep, young Will would never have dreamt about leaving like this. But current Will? He found himself freely laughing and an excitement in him to create that he hadn’t felt in a while. 

 

Maybe once all of this was done, he’d finally be able to get a job in the fort to save up money. He could talk to Flo about renting out that spare room in her place that she never seemed to be able to fill with a boarder. He could turn it into a studio like he had always wanted. 

 

This journey wouldn’t take forever.

 

Between Hopper’s skills and Max’s determination, he was confident that they’d find Billy. And it seemed like they might be on track with this new hint towards Blackfoot Crossing.

 

But when Bob went to go get plates from his cupboard, something different trickled down Will’s spine, interrupting the cavalier feeling that had taken over that night. It was sudden, unexpected. But it’s there, a nagging sensation in the back of his mind that sent goosebumps rippling down his arms, even in the warmth by the wood-fire stove. 

 

He had experienced these feelings only once or twice before, all after what had happened. They were in sort a type of premonition (not that he wanted to ever tell anyone about them).

 

A feeling that things were things were about to turn for the worse for them.

 

_Much worse._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for chapter three!! I’ve been writing these almost as if they’re episodes, hence some of the styling. This was a good chapter for me to work through with the dialogue since I couldn’t just write all action, and was a bit of an homage to all of those bonding scenes that happen in Westerns while you make your way across the wasteland. 
> 
> Thanks for checking it out and I hope you enjoyed it! For those of you have been following my zombie fics, I’m finally back onto writing those last Mileven zombie chapters so keep a look out for that one hopefully soon as well!


	4. Unresolved Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve isn’t always the best with words, especially when it comes to attempting to explain why he’s courting Nancy to a clearly upset Jonathan. To then add onto the guilt he’s feeling about hurting his best friend, Nancy then comes to him with some news of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHH BOY not to be a cliche, but it’s been a while hasn’t it? Pretty much the usual reasons of life and work taking over, as well as just a general massive creative block. I even restructured this entire chapter because I was so frustrated. But luckily that worked out and here we are! 
> 
> It’s a much shorter chapter than some of the others, but I didn’t want to just throw it onto the end of another one since I’ll be having the two storylines pretty separate until the end. And I feel like while short, this chapter helps set the Monster Hunting Trio’s storyline into play! The action and the party will be back in the next chapter, I hope you enjoy this!

The saloon was rowdy that night. 

 

A couple people spilled out from the swinging doors onto the porch while the inside was filled with raucous laughter and shouts. A group of men sat in a corner puffing on fat cigars, the smoke hazing around them and spreading throughout the room. Some women had grouped up next to some of the eligible young men, that night’s drinking lending itself to open flirting and slow dancing to the music that was softly being played in an opposite corner. 

 

Life out west wasn’t easy so you had to take the time off when you could.

 

“Not as confident without your playing partner are you?”  


“Shut up Tommy,” Steve laughed, tossing some money into the middle of the table. “I’ll raise.”

 

Steve was in the middle of a relaxed game of poker and no, he wasn’t about to admit that he wasn’t as on top of his game without Dustin here. The kid hadn’t been playing for long, hell — Steve had _taught_ the damn kid how to play, but he had picked it up faster than anyone else here. And even if he didn’t tell Steve how to play a hand, his easygoing nature helped him relax when everyone else at the table got too serious.

 

He took a long sip of his whiskey, feeling the taste of the woodsmoke chase after it as his gaze drifted lazily around the room. 

 

And landed on Jonathan Byers.

 

Who had apparently just walked in.

 

He looked out of place, which was exactly what he was to be perfectly honest. He had never really frequented the saloon, and it had been easy enough when it had been the three of them to avoid coming here. Or if they did come, they’d sit against the wall and people watch together, clutching their drinks in hand and getting overly tipsy on small amounts and laughing at other people and focusing on themselves. The safety of his friends had helped him loosen up but without Steve or Nancy beside him now, Jonathan appeared much more unsure of himself. Steve figured it was a safe assumption that being gone for so long didn’t help that. 

 

Steve leaned back in his chair and waved at Jonathan until he got his attention, receiving a small but nervous wave back. 

 

It wasn’t his usual greeting but close enough.

 

“I didn’t realize Byers was back to haunt the fort again,” muttered Tommy, apparently having seen the object of Steve’s gaze.

 

He frowned as he looked back at Jonathan at the bar. Something definitely wasn’t right and he could feel the whiskey helping knot his stomach.

 

“I fold.”

 

Tommy let out a noise of indignation. “It’s not your turn, you have to wait.”

 

“Didn’t I say to shut your mouth Tommy?” Steve tossed his cards back on the table before getting up to make his way towards the bar and his best friend.

 

He weaved his way over, giving some nods towards familiar faces before landing right in front of the man he had been aiming for. With El gone on this adventure, it had left the bar back to its original bartender, Callahan. A seemingly anxious man with a handlebar mustache, he was always quick to say a joke (even if it didn’t land) and had once applied to work under Sheriff Hopper (Steve had gotten the job instead). Now he was fretfully attempting to get everyone’s drinks correctly made and passed out.

 

“Here you go Jonathan,” he said, attempting to push the beer towards him.

 

The extra foam sloshed over the sides of glass and onto the bar.

 

Jonathan was too polite though and merely nodded in thanks, digging into his pockets for the money for it.

 

Steve quickly reached a hand out to stop him, placing his arm on his shoulder and using the other to go into his own pocket where his winnings were from his earlier poker hands. 

 

“I got it this time! Let’s celebrate you returning back to Hawkins,” he said.

 

With an exaggerated wink towards Jonathan, Steve dropped the coins in Callahan’s outstretched hand and told him to make him one as well. The whiskey was still warm in his stomach, but the beer seemed fresh and he didn’t want Jonathan to feel out of place and be drinking alone.

 

“Thanks,” Jonathan mumbled, his thumb running up and down the ridge of the glass. Stealing a glance over at Steve who gave him a wide smile.

 

“I feel like I haven’t seen you at all since you got back,” Steve said as casually as possible, staring intently over the rim of his drink at his quieter friend.

 

“Oh, we’ve been busy back at the ranch. Mainly just me getting settled in. We’re trying to find another person to help out with the livestock, but that costs money so…” Jonathan shrugged at the last part, taking a big swig of drink. “We haven’t entirely figured it out yet.”

 

His eyes flicked over at Steve’s and he couldn’t help the small grin that tugged onto his face. Steve had slouched into his usual self, legs spread out with one arm resting on the bar and another ruffling his hair. 

 

Some things never changed.

 

Steve shook his head, knocking his glass into Jonathan’s shoulder.

 

“You know that’s still not an excuse to not come catch up with me,” he said with a mock-sternness. “Not when I’ve been pining for you to come back from such far away lands.”

 

It was his usual teasing so he wasn’t sure if the pink that tinged Jonathan’s cheeks were from the alcohol in hand or what he said. He had a very odd feeling in the back of his mind he wasn’t sure which one he wanted it to be. He quickly rushed that thought out of his mind though. He wasn’t a little kid anymore and it had obviously just been a while since they had hung out.

 

“You’re ridiculous, you know that right?” Jonathan said, his humor dry but his eyes lit up with the old mischievous look that Steve remembered so well.

 

“I mean, I heard you saw Nancy already so… I guess I felt left out.”

 

Those words hadn’t really been what he meant to say. Not entirely. The alcohol in him made it sound a little more pitiful than he had meant for its to be, but it wasn’t entirely wrong. But he also hadn’t been able to shake his frustration at what Nancy had told him. Not necessarily so much in words at least, but what she had conveyed in her own recanting of the experience.

 

The rigidness that had taken over Jonathan when he had found out that Steve was courting Nancy. 

 

The way he had immediately closed up again, as if the bond they had all shared for so long had somehow disappeared.

 

He had hated seeing Nancy mournfully tell the story, clearing taking it harder than either of them had expected. But he hadn’t been able to entirely blame her. They’d sort of just assumed that Jonathan hadn’t planned on coming back, or that if he didn’t he wouldn’t mind.

 

Steve watched as Jonathan went through a similar moment as Nancy had described. A shiver seemingly running down him, even in the warmth of the night and the saloon. He stared at his drink intensely, his lips pulling into a tight line. He attempted then though to somewhat shake it off. Almost literally, giving a quick shake of his shoulders and a big gulp of his drink before slowly returning Steve’s gaze.

 

“Just getting to used to all of the changes, that’s all.”

 

“I promise we didn’t start courting the moment you left,” Steve swore, adjusting himself on the bar stool so that he was leaning in closer to Jonathan.

 

He smelled like smoke and the farm, mixed in with a cologne he must have picked up from the city. It went straight to Steve’s head as it swirled with the smell of cigar smoke in the corner and the sweat of living out west.

 

Jonathan seemed uncomfortable at the idea of talking about it but Steve pushed on anyway. 

 

“Really, Jonathan I swear, we weren’t waiting for you to leave. It just… it just happened. It was the two of us still here, it felt natural. We missed you but you were gone and it just fell together. We work together. And it was a bit expected if we’re honest, you should have heard the old ladies the week after. It doesn’t mean we don’t care about you or want you in —”

 

Jonathan shoved his bar stool back, the screech against the wood floor drawing curious gazes before returning to their own lives.

 

“Steve. I really, really don’t want to talk about you and Nancy being together right now,” he said abruptly. 

 

Leaving half of his beer behind, Jonathan quickly began to make his way towards the entrance to the saloon.

 

Steve sighed exasperatedly, running a hand through his hair.

 

Fuck it.

 

He tossed an extra coin on the bar and left his remaining alcohol so that he could hurry after Jonathan. He caught him just outside on the porch, hands shoved into his pockets and taking deep, steadying breaths. 

 

“Jonathan, I’m sorry.”

 

Steve let the apology hover between them, watching as Jonathan’s shoulders released their tension. When he looked back at Steve ruefully, he had a resigned expression that made Steve immediately feel his heart contract.

 

“Look I’m going to just head back home, I should have stayed in and helped Ma. It was silly to come here tonight.”

 

Jonathan’s words come out shortly and his eyes leave Steve’s. 

 

That’s when he realizes he’s lost the battle. _At least for tonight._

 

“Right,” he said abruptly. “I’ll see you later then?” 

 

The words come out awkwardly, much more of a brusque question than he had meant it to be. He wasn’t even sure why he had phrased it as a question. It was a statement, or at least it should have been. Of course he would see him again.

 

Jonathan nodded, confirming it as well as conveying a goodbye. His eyes, already usually so serious, and moments ago in the saloon so fired up, now seemed downcast and Steve knew him too well to know that the smile he gave him was one that he had practiced as a teen. One that was reserved for moments when he was internally panicking but wanted to seem polite. And with that, Steve knows it’s his cue to leave before anything else becomes too uncomfortable. He’s seen that too much before and to be on the receiving end unnerves him.

 

“Yeah, okay. See you later then.”

 

_Definitely not his best moment of eloquence._

 

Clearing his throat and throwing his shoulders back, doing everything he can to return to his usual confident self, Steve gave a quick wave and made his way out, unconsciously stopping his boots on the steps as he made his way to the road.

 

As Steve turned on his heel, he felt a wave of frustration taking over him. 

 

Why did he feel guilty?

 

Why did he feel like he had betrayed Jonathan?

 

_It was bullshit._ He and Nancy had no idea that he was going to be coming back; they had only received letters early on while he was gone. He had seemed so happy there, why should they have assumed their best friend would want to come back out to the middle of nowhere? Back to them?

 

Steve felt a pang in his chest though as he paused, slouching as he thought a little deeper about all of it.

 

It hadn’t been Jonathan’s choice to come back though. And here he was selfishly getting mad at him. When everything he had known had changed. When his two best friends had begun to be together romantically, leaving him out of it and turning him into an outsider.

 

He started to turn around, stopped himself, and then cursed under his breath and fully turned around. God damn it, he was going to apologize to Jonathan and try to explain himself properly this time. Explain what exactly? Since had already attempted some sort of explanation in the saloon? He wasn’t sure yet. But he felt the inexplicable need to apologize to him for something. Everything.

 

With Jonathan’s hurt expression still burned into his brain, Steve prepared to storm back to the saloon. But when he turned around, his eyes still adjusting the to the night air, he realized that Jonathan had disappeared into the night.

 

He let out a deep sigh, knowing he’d have to figure something out. Everything had been so much easier when they had just been teenagers, the three of them by each other’s sides. And it felt like a punch to the gut to think that they could have hurt Jonathan by making him feel unwanted. That thought lingering on his mind, he decided he might as well call it a night and head back home. It wasn’t worth staying to hear the snarky comments from Tommy and suddenly the idea of having more to drink really didn’t seem like a good idea.

 

As he began to make his way back, he saw a person walk out into the street from a house and make a similar path towards the outer part of the fort.

 

He definitely recognized that slight figure and wavy hair highlighted in the moonlight.

 

“Nance?”

 

The figure turned and it her indeed. She gave him a grateful smile and waited for him to catch up.

 

“What are you doing out here? I thought you were meeting Barb tonight,” Steve asked, walking over to her and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

 

Nancy leaned into it briefly before pulling back, allowing Steve to finally see the nervous expression on her face. The crease she got in her forehead when she was fretting about something was firmly there and he traced it with his thumb. 

 

“You nervous about Mike? It’s only the first night with the kids gone, you know he can take care of himself,” he teased her. “Plus Hopper is there too.”

 

She shrugged off his hand with a quick shake of his head, blowing past his joke about being the nervous older sister (which she supposed could be a small part of it).

 

“Barb and I were supposed to spend the evening tonight at my home, but she never showed up. So I went over to her house but her parents said she hadn’t been home all day so they assumed she had just come over to my place already.”

 

_Oh._

 

The buzz in Steve’s head from the alcohol tonight was beginning to concentrate just above his brows, a small pulsating that he already regrets and wants to sleep off. He purses his lips as he tries to process her concern. 

 

“Well, when is the last time you saw her?”

 

“Probably a couple of days ago, two or three. Which was why we were going to spend the night together,” Nancy said, a small hint of irritation beginning to lace her nervous tone.

 

Steve dropped his hands onto her shoulders.

 

“Okay so maybe she’s busy and forgot. Or she might have gone on one of those walks that she likes to go on and it was later than she realized. I’m sure it’s nothing Nance,” Steve said as consolingly as possible. He rubbed his hands on her arms. “How about we just double check tomorrow? It’ll be light out and I won’t be drunk. It won’t help Barb for us to just wander around at night.”

 

Nancy bit her lip at that, weighing her options.

 

When she didn’t say anything else, Steve pulled her in for another hug. Her hands latched behind his back and she tucked her head into the crook of his neck. 

 

“I have a bad feeling about her Steve, something doesn’t feel right,” she whispered into his shirt.

 

He tightened his grip on her, giving a quick kiss to her temple before resting his chin on the top of her head.

 

He wasn’t sure he felt great about it either. 

 

As much as he had said all of that to comfort Nancy, he knew that Barb wasn’t the type of person to just wander off without telling anyone. And she certainly wouldn’t have forgotten to hang out with Nancy. Outside of the boys, Barb had been Nancy’s closest friend growing up.

 

Nancy rarely was wrong about her instincts either.

 

“Let me me walk you back to your place,” was all he said though.

 

She let out a shaky breath and pulled back, slipping her hand into his with a nod. 

 

They were relatively silent as they walked down towards the Wheeler house. An older gentleman waved from a porch as his pipe glowed in the darkness. His wife sat next to him, hunched over a blanket she was stitching up. A cat slunk by (possibly Mrs. Henderson’s honestly) and disappeared into the shadows, the movement of a tiny tail the only indication of the lizard it was chasing. 

 

The moon was nearly full tonight and loomed over the fort, the far off desert landscape protruding into the night sky.

 

Steve inhales, trying to calm his rattled thoughts.

 

Even just an hour ago it had been a regular evening. One that he probably would have never remembered. But with Jonathan’s stare still lingering, and Nancy’s clammy palm in his hand, he has a feeling that this night might be the start of something very unexpected.


	5. Outcomes Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party makes its way to Blackfoot Crossing, hoping for any clue as to where Billy has gone. While there, Mike runs into an old nemesis and things get a little heated. But it’s nothing compared to what’s to come on the next leg of their trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I haven’t abandoned this fic, though I’m sure it feels like it! I’ve had part of this written for months, but it took a while for me to get back into the rhythm of writing. While I love writing genre-heavy fics, they can be kind of tricky to get back into. Thank for sticking around for this long, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Blackfoot Crossing was a much busier town than some of the party was used to, Dustin’s eyes wide in wonder as they rode into the town.

 

The journey from Bob’s ranch had started earlier in the morning than they would have liked, but Hopper wasn’t interested in wasting time. So with a few grumbles and yawns, the party had begun their trip to the next town over.

 

Long stretches of land reaching out in front of them. Open land of dust, the morning sunrise glowing across the stretch of rust brown. Slowly but surely, jagged peaks of rock began to jut out of the landscape, leading the party through a narrow pass. The shade was a welcome break from the early heat coming from a cloudless sky. They passed a couple covered wagons, two small kids poking their heads out to wave to them. One man, scrawny in size and with furtive glances, led to Will and Dustin devising an entire backstory.

 

While they had started out along side the river, a rushing one with the water crashing on itself, they ended up finishing the trip out closer to the rail tracks. With a train whipping past them out of the canyons, they finally emerged on the other side to the town of Blackfoot Crossing.

 

There was a long row of horses tied up near the town center. Hopper instructed the party to stop there and they each took a turn finding a place to leave their horse. Dart whinnied and nudged Dustin’s head as he finished tying him up, knocking his hat just a bit and snuffling in his ear.

 

“I know buddy, it won’t be for long,” Dustin encouraged. He pulled a small cube of sugar out of the pouch on his saddle. “Here, have a treat while we wait.”

 

Hopper was describing the layout to Lucas who carefully took in their surroundings. Will took the chance to hand one of the posters he had drawn to a couple of young men who had stopped to look curiously at the out-of-place party. They thanked him for the poster, but shrugged that they didn’t think they had seen this guy before. As they were walking away, the tall blonde one turned and shouted out that Will was a really good artist.

 

_He was pretty sure he was going to be tinged with a blush on his cheeks for the rest of the day._

 

Once the group had successfully secured their horses and circled back together, Hopper took to laying out their plan.

 

“Mayfield, with me,” Hopper said, nodding towards the direction of where they assume is the sheriff.

 

Max nodded, making her way towards Hopper.

 

“I’ll come with too,” Lucas interjected quickly, ignoring Mike’s eye roll and Dustin’s mischievous smirk. Hopper only shrugged, _what the hell did he care._

 

“And for the rest of you, go get something to eat. Stay out of trouble,” he warned, an extra glance towards Mike and Dustin.

 

They protested while El and Will laughed. With that then, the group split up, the four teens going moving further into the town while Hopper, with Lucas and Max by his side, took towards the East to head over to chat with the sheriff about Billy. Max’s hand unconsciously drifted towards Lucas’, the two occasionally bumping into each other and secret grins forming on both of their faces. Hopper sighed to himself and kept focused on their walk. The last thing he felt like doing was watching two teenagers developing some sort of attraction for each other. He dealt with El’s pining enough as it was.

 

Mike took the lead for their half, striding out his long legs as he scanned the shops around them. El kept pace with him, even with her shorter legs. Her long brown curls were beginning to slip out from the loose braid she had thrown it into. Stealing a glance up at Mike, she felt a smile slip onto her face. He had his intensely-focused expression on, a usual for him, but also had more of an easy-going nature to his walk. She knew he had been struggling somewhat on the trip but she hoped that he could finally relax soon. Hopefully this time away from his parents would help him, if he just learned to open more to their friends.

 

When they finally entered a place they all agreed upon for eating (limited choices of course, they didn’t argue), they all breathed a sigh of relief at the cooler temperature in the building.

 

A muted yellow wallpaper wrapped around the room, accented by dark panels of wood. The bartender at the bar nodded at them then towards an open table. It was a far cry from their saloon back home, and each of them found themselves standing up a little bit straighter. 

 

A waiter appeared at their table-cloth covered setting, offering them water, which they all eagerly accepted.

 

“Can we afford to eat here?” Will asked in a hush voice, his eyes wide as he took in their surroundings.

 

El quickly assured Will that Hopper had given her a couple extra coins for lunch, and the boy visibly relaxed. Mike nodded with a wry grin.

 

“Plus it’s lunch, I hope you aren’t planning on ordering —”

 

Whatever Mike was going to say, he was interrupted by someone bumping into his chair. While it could have been interpreted as an accident, it was quickly an obviously blatant interaction, seeing as how there was definitely room to move around him. The majority of the restaurant was still empty. 

 

“Watch where you’re going,” Mike snapped over his shoulder, causing El to gently place her hand on his. 

 

“Excuse me then,” drawled the voice of the person. 

 

And then he turned around in his seat, locking eyes with the person behind him. He was maybe only a year or two older than them by the looks of it. Stocky in build, he had heavy shoulders and messy brown hair that currently pushed back with sweat. And he a delighted, almost leering, smile on his face in recognition.

 

“Troy.” Mike deadpanned.

 

He crowed with laughter and the guys he had walked in with laughed as well, though secretly giving each other small looks of confusion. This tall, lanky kid was easy enough to laugh at, even if they didn’t fully know the reason. El’s brow furrowed as well and she turned to Will and Dustin. They each gave a small shrug. No one was sure who this guy was — except for Mike, who’s face had twisted into a grimace. 

 

“Frog face! What are you doing back here in Blackfoot? Come crawling back after your old man failed to be a real business man?”

 

“Oh fuck off, no one wants to listen to you,” Mike retorted angrily. 

 

He hadn’t entirely meant to say it, the words coming out as a low grumble. Memories of being shoved around by Troy had bubbled up a rage in him. Most of the mothers in Hawkins would always comment how well-behaved he was, but that didn’t stop anger from consuming him from time to time. He had gotten better at hiding it, but sometimes it would threaten to burst from within him.

 

And this was one of those times.

 

Troy’s lip curled into a snarl, not used to being pushed back on.

 

“What did you say to me?”

 

“I said no one wants to listen to you,” repeated Mike, scraping his chair back so he could stand up. 

 

Eyebrows arched in mild surprise, Troy took in the apparent growth spurt that Mike had experienced since leaving. 

 

“Trying to show off for your friends Wheeler?” 

 

His eyes darted over towards the others. He snickered at the other three. Will, smaller than most his age with long, overgrown hair swept back. Open-faced Dustin, with his wild curls and confused expression. El had snorted at that, polling Troy’s focus to hers, where he found a skeptical gaze staring back.

 

“She’s out of your league,” Troy said with a smirk. “Though I can’t say much for your other friends. Guess you don’t have many options though do you? Beggars can’t be choosers.”

 

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Mike retorted.

 

“Ooh, did I strike a nerve?” Troy crowed, his eyes growing wider. “You couldn’t even get her to be with you, even more pathetic than I thought. That’s alright, she’d have left you anyway once she got to really know you. A loser who’d rather read than do any good for anyone.”

 

It was El’s turn to jump up that, creating a chain reaction of Will and Dustin following her lead and also standing up. This then caused Troy’s friends to push in closer as well, until they were all standing nearly nose to nose.

 

“Take it outside,” barked a waiter, glaring at each of them as they continued to threaten the peacefulness of the restaurant. 

 

“Come on,” El hissed, grabbing Mike by the arm and pulling him towards the door. “Let’s deescalate this outside.”

 

The teens all scrambled outside into the baking sun, Will shielding his eyes as they all circled around each other. Troy’s friends were muttering something to each other, but seemed overall unbothered by the whole situation. Dustin seemed bemused and El was staring at Troy crossly. Will didn’t like this at all. But based on Mike’s expression, he wasn’t going to let this one go.

 

“Should put a bet on this,” Troy said, his chin up defiantly as he did he best to goad Mike into fighting him. 

 

“He’ll break in half with one hit,” joked one of Troy’s friends, laughing until he caught El’s murderous gaze and falling silent. 

 

“That’s fair, you’re still way too scrawny. It’s not worth breaking a sweat,” Troy replied, poking Mike in the chest before turning around to walk away.

 

Mike’s movements were jerky, almost has if he was in the process of second guessing himself. But regardless of any self doubt, he followed through.

 

He reached out and shoved Troy.

 

It was almost as surprising to Mike as it was to Troy, but it was too late to worry about that now. He stuttered in his steps as he caught himself, spinning to glare at Mike. Though he had extra height to him, Mike suddenly became acutely aware of the weight difference. And probably experience too. Mike couldn’t think of a single time in his life that he had physically fought someone. He was a lot better at cold shoulders and snarky comments.

 

Troy’s reflexes were faster than he expected.

 

He lunged forward, coiling his right and jabbing out at Mike’s face. He was off-balance though and while he connected with a freckled cheekbone, it wasn’t nearly as damaging as it could have been. It still knocked Mike back and his fingers gingerly skimmed across it, knowing the blow would leave a bruise later.

 

Fists back up, Troy swung out again. But Mike was more prepared this time. He ducked out of the way and was able to then use the forward momentum to propel himself into Troy’s gut. The tackle knocked the wind out of him and the two teens dropped to the ground. Locking his knees around Troy’s chest, Mike fought off Troy’s grappling at his face. It was like trying to restrain an angry animal. Troy pushed back and nearly shoved Mike off of him, making Mike drop his own fist down in a punch to get him to stay down.

 

The fight had left any sort of respectability and as the two wrestled on the ground outside the restaurant, Mike could vaguely hear Will’s voice in the background. He seemed to be calling out to someone and Dustin let out what sounded like a cheer. 

 

“Too scared to hit me like a real man?” Troy spat out, almost grinning the two fought for dominance. “Are you a coward just like your dad? Or are you going to try to act like you’re some big, strong hero for your wh—”

 

The second punch landed squarely on Troy’s nose, cutting off what he was about to say as he let out a yelp of pain. 

 

Not a moment later though hands reached out and jerked Mike off of Troy, causing him to stumble back as he steadied himself. And found himself face to face with a furious Jim Hopper.

 

The sheriff cast a glare at Mike before turning to Troy, who had scrambled to his feet and was breathing heavily. His eyes were narrowed in Mike’s direction, but the fight seemed gone from him. He apparently hadn’t expected to be on the losing end. 

 

“Scram,” growled Hopper, nodding away from them. He had pulled himself up to his full height, out of his normal slouch, and the effect was just as imposing as he had hoped for.

 

Troy furiously rubbed his forearm against his nose. Streaks of blood came off on the sleeve of his shirt and Mike tried to stop the swell of pride in him. He wasn’t sure he felt good about fighting, a lot of the buzz from it had worn off now that they were separated, but knowing that he had bested his old rival did feel pretty good. He couldn’t deny that. 

 

“Hey kid, I thought I told you to stay out of trouble,” Hopper said with a knowing look.

 

The group of gawking onlookers were now beginning to carry on with their lives, now that the fight was over. Mike straightened his shirt out, tucking it back into the waistband of his pants with a scowl.

 

“You expect to just be quiet when a bastard like Troy opens his mouth about my family and friends?” He snapped back. 

 

“I expect you to not get your teeth knocked in by some schoolyard bully who hasn’t grown up,” was Hopper’s response. “I didn’t particularly care to have a bunch of teenagers running around with me exactly for this reason. But I promised your families I’d take care of you all, and god damn it I’m going to. Got it?”

 

Mike stubbornly glowered at Hopper, the two head to head in stubbornness. 

 

“Good. No more fights.” He cast a glance at the others. “I expect the rest of you to hold him back next time.”

 

Dustin saluted him and Will nodded, Lucas giving an exasperated sigh before agreeing as well.

 

“Now let’s go. We’re in luck, Billy rode through here just the other day. If we move quickly we should be able to catch him tomorrow. It sounded like they might be looping back towards Hawkins.” 

 

Lucas heard a whoosh of air release from Max and he turned to give her a comforting smile. They were closer than they had realized to finishing this and he could only imagine the relief this would bring her. She returned the smile and turned back to Hopper.

 

“To the horses then?”

 

“To the horses. We’ll all grab something quick to take with us to eat, since Mike here ruined our chances of ever coming back to that place,” he said gruffly. It took a second for the sarcasm to sink in, leaving him to chuckle to himself as Mike protested and Dustin teased him as he made his way to where they had left their horses.

 

Max started to follow, with Lucas by her side, but stopped. She looked at Mike who brushing dirt off of his pants, waiting until he looked up.

 

“What?” Mike asked, more uncomfortable than angry.

 

Max gave him a wry smile and shrugged her shoulders simply.

 

“That was pretty badass Wheeler. I admire that level of loyalty.” 

 

She said it simply, without too much flowery and not sugarcoating it. He wasn’t even sure if it was an olive branch of not, but there was something in her tone that made Mike pause. With her long braid swishing behind her, she gave Mike a small smile and hurried to catch up to Lucas. He wasn’t ready to admit defeat in that fight yet, but the soft way that Lucas looked at Max made him find himself considering the potential for being a bit less of an asshole.

 

_Well, at least he’d try his best. He wasn’t sure he could shake that part of his personality completely out._

 

He felt a delicate touch to his back and El appeared beside him. She looked a little amused and she softly touched the cut that had slowly been appearing on his cheek, before withdrawing her hand as they made their way back towards their horses.

 

“Why didn’t you mention Blackfoot was where you were from?” El asked curiously, the two of them hanging back as they walked behind the others.

 

Mike shrugged hesitantly.

 

“I don’t really know… I was young when we moved to Hawkins. It was transitioning out of a military fort and everything felt like a fresh start. I didn’t need to be awkward Mike from Blackfoot. I just got to be me.”

 

El nodded silently, watching his face closely as he talked.

 

“Lucas and I hit it off right away, and then Will and Dustin entered the picture. To them it never mattered that we were wealthy, or even at that we suddenly weren’t as successful. No one there cares, so what was the point? I just got to ignore it all. No more assholes. Just me, my friends, and the books at the library. And then you,” he added on softly, ducking his face down with a stolen glance in her direction.

 

A blush crept up El’s cheeks as she returned his smile, feeling the all-too familiar flutter of her heart as they looked at each other. 

 

“You’re why I came actually.” The sentiment tumbled out of Mike’s lips, catching them both off guard. He rubbed nervously at his neck.

 

“You know you shouldn’t risk your life just for one person,” El admonished gently, unable to hide the pleased tone in her voice. 

 

“Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” A pause. “Why… why did you come?”

 

El hums to herself at that question, her eyes squinting as she looked ahead of them. Her answer was slower as she found her words.

 

“I still feel like I need to do so much to pay Hop back after everything. Him finding me and taking me in, it changed everything. And seeing a girl our age, freer than I was but still trapped, coming and asking for help? I knew I had to do something. Even if I was just a physical presence.” 

 

Mike’s eyes dropped to her wrist, hidden by the long sleeves of her dress.

 

He knew all too well about the small mark on her skin. A faded, but still distinct 011, branded into her skin. A story that he’d only heard pieces of, pockets of it missing. But just enough to still get shivers when he saw it, the same he felt when she had let him first gently skim the pads of his fingers across it that one night on the porch of at Hopper’s small home. 

 

“It’ll about be worth it,” he said quietly, “in order to right the wrongs that we can fix.” 

 

El reached out and briefly squeezed his hand, giving him a watery grin before clearing her throat. 

 

“You know he’s lucky I didn’t break his arm,” El said with a giggle.

 

Mike laughed out loud at that. “You’d have broken his arm?”

 

“Of course!” El bristled. “If you hadn’t had the upper hand, there was no circumstance I was going to let him win. No one gets to hurt my friends and get away with it.”

 

Mike shook his head and looked down at her while they walked. She was really something else, and there was something about knowing she’d have jumped into the fight if need be, somehow made him fall for her even more.

 

* * *

 

Dinner finished with the party swapping stories, the group nearly in tears from laughing so hard at Hopper’s story about one of Steve’s first arrests. They all agreed that he somehow had both the worst, and best, luck of anyone they knew. The day was closing on them, having been utilizing the majority of their day to get back on the road. Dustin had even offered to try to teach Max how to play poker, but Hopper had encouraged them to instead help start preparing to sleep and save it for when this was all said and done. His announcement that they’d be up before dawn the next day was met with groans.

 

But dutifully, and secretly more tired than any of them wanted to let on, the party acquiesced. 

 

“Will?” El asked, already motioning towards the tin plates surrounding the fire.

 

The smaller boy nodded and helped round up the rest of the cutlery. The two began to make their way towards the river, giggling and whispering to each other as they went. Hopper smiled fondly at them, his mind working itself back to the woman who had raised the cautiously optimistic boy. How good of a job she had done. He cleared his throat when he felt his heart warming too much though.

 

“Alright, let’s get the rest of this set up shall we?” 

 

The remaining party members moved themselves out of the half circle they had been seated in. Setting up camp never took too long, though they’d often find themselves distracted while going about. Max often found herself caught gazing up at the stars in between the motions. The vast expanse of the sky stretching across the horizon, now completely an inky black. Stars speckled the sky, some clumped together in patterns and shapes while a streak of what looked like stardust stretched across. It was breathtaking and nearly the closest thing she had ever seen akin to a religious experience. So often her rides with Zoomer had been cut short, never daring to escape to the desert at night.

 

It was almost funny, the circumstances that had brought her to this moment. 

 

With on last glance at the heavens above, Max then ducked her chin and went back to feeding the horses their last bites. She completely missed the look that Lucas had been giving her, watching her as she watched the sky.

 

“Dustin, do you mind running this down to Will and El?” 

 

Hopper passed over a forgotten pan to him, receiving a quick salute from the boy before he followed in Will and El’s footsteps. The moon was bright that night, rising up above the horizon and casting a glow about them, just enough that Dustin was able to leave behind the lantern. He hummed to himself, a slight spring in his step the closer he got to the river.

 

“So are you going to say anything to her?” Max piped up back at the fire after making her way back to the group, causing Mike to choke on the sip of water he was in the middle of. 

 

He immediately began to protest, causing the others to groan and Hopper to pretend to cover his ears. 

 

“You’re being ridiculous if you don’t think she feels something for you too,” Max continued to insist, moving to sit next to Mike on the large rock he was perched on. “And I may not have known any of you for very long, but I can’t just sit back and watch this happen.”

 

Lucas raised his eyebrows as he watched the interaction from where he had begun to set up the tents. It wasn’t like this was news to any of the rest of the party, Mike liking El. But there seemed to be something about Max, someone who was practically a stranger, calling him out that made Mike’s protests weaker. And while Mike usually struggled with Lucas’ honesty, the bluntness from Max appeared to be more welcome. Which he wasn’t sure he understood, but if it meant Mike stopped glowering whenever Max said something, he’d take it.

 

Indeed, as the moon continued to rise above them and the desert night began, the two teens fell into a conversation where Max continued to bluntly point out all of the times that Mike had been completely oblivious to El’s attention to him. 

 

Soon it evolved into Lucas and Max acting out Mike and El, much to the blushing chagrin of Mike. He took it in stride though, a grin creeping through as he tried to bite it back. Even Hopper got in on the fun, pretending to lumber up and break the two apart. 

 

_After that one, he did lean over and cuff Mike on the shoulder, mentioning to him, “Nah kid, don’t worry. I’m not interested in stopping you two.”_

 

Eventually their rowdiness gave way to tiredness, the journey’s length and days catching up to them. Max did her best to mask it, wanting to stay up to look at the stars some more. Maybe she’d convince Will to draw some of them out for her. Even maybe figure out some of the patterns in them.

 

Lucas managed to catch the yawn that escaped though, so he gently bumped her shoulder with this.

 

“Let’s set up the bedrolls,” he suggested. “Before the others get back, that way we can just put all the dishes away and get an early start tomorrow.”

 

Mike and Max nodded in agreement, before glancing cautiously at each other.

 

“We’re still not friends you know,” Mike warned, but it came out in the same tone he usually used when he and Lucas were arguing, without any real bite. A hint of laughter just on the cusp of his voice and the first clue that he was maybe warming up to Max finally.

 

“Seeing as how you’re 'just friends’ with El, I’m not sure I want to be if it means having you stare at me like that,” responded Max lightly, making even Hopper snort with laughter (he quickly tried to mask it as a cough so that they didn’t realize he was listening in). 

 

Mike grumbled to himself at that, pushing himself to his feet to begin unrolling the bedrolls for everyone. But he couldn’t quite hide the quirk of smile that threatened to tug at his mouth.

 

Max turned to Lucas, a grin sliding onto her face. But she didn’t end up getting the chance to say what was on the tip of her tongue.

 

The sound of feet pounding against the hard-packed dirt broke the conversation, accompanied by a yell.

 

“HOP!”

 

Dustin’s shout broke through the night as he hurtled towards the group, his curls flying in the wind with his hat barely hanging on by its straps around his neck. When he reached them, he was heaving from trying to catch his breath. Hands gripped tightly to his knees as he wheezed a bit, gulping in oxygen as quickly as he could. 

 

Everyone leapt up to their feet, panic settling in.

 

Mike pushed past Hopper.

 

“Dustin, where are El and Will?” He demanded, immediately picking up on their friends’ absence.

 

Dread pooled into Max’s stomach and she felt her breath hitch, her hand instinctively reaching out for Lucas’. He grasped it return and they exchanged a quick look. It felt like the air had been sucked out from around them at the camp.

 

Dustin looked up frantically at Mike who was standing in front of him.

 

“They’re gone. I went back with the extra dishes and they disappeared. It’s just the dishes left on the rocks by the water.”

 

The words came out in a rush and everyone fell silent. Even the nature around them came to a halt in suspended silence. Mike had lost all color in his face and Lucas’ hand was clammy on Max’s. Hopper had a stony expression on his face, his knuckles white against his rifle.

 

Dustin’s words rang through everyone’s minds.

 

_They’re gone._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh now how’s that for a half way point in the fic? I don’t particularly always write a lot of cliffhangers but I was excited to write this one (it was actually the first part of the chapter I wrote). Don’t worry, I’ll try to not have the time before the next chapter be too long this time. Shaking off the cobwebs with writing still, but I’m overall pleased with this chapter!


	6. It’s Kill or Be Killed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The disappearance of Will and El sends the party into a frantic search party. Forget the bounty, right now they need to find their friends. It turns out though that finding them may not be the hard part, but getting them back will be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well damn, it’s been a hot minute hasn’t it? I’m really sorry, this was something I thought I was going to be able to stay on top of but then life and other fics got in the way. And then it turns out it’s kinda tricky to get back into writing this genre after doing a bunch of modern fics! Apologies about leaving you on a cliffhanger like that — here we go!
> 
> A quick note - this has some more descriptions of violence than the previous chapter. It’s not gratuitous especially for the genre, but our favorite characters have gotten themselves into a tough spot and will have to get themselves out of it, gathering some cuts and bruises along the way.

_Dustin looked up frantically at Mike who was standing in front of him._

 

_“They’re gone. I went back with the extra dishes and they disappeared. It’s just the dishes left on the rocks by the water.”_

 

_The words came out in a rush and everyone fell silent. Even the nature around them came to a halt in suspended silence. Mike had lost all color in his face and Lucas’ hand was clammy on Max’s. Hopper had a stony expression on his face, his knuckles white against his rifle._

 

_Dustin’s words rang through everyone’s minds._

 

_They’re gone._

 

* * *

 

The night’s temperature had dropped drastically, bringing a welcome coldness to the desert it cloaked. 

 

Max was even more thankful for it than normal. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle the oppressive heat combined with the anxiety of their missing friends. 

 

Dustin’s announcement had been a sucker punch to all of them, throwing them in a frantic mess as they tried to figure out what to do. Mike had immediately tried to take off towards the river where they had been, though not quick enough to dodge Dustin and Hopper’s grip. Lucas’ hand in hers had tightened as if he had to remind himself that she was there. And Max had felt like her blood had run cold.

 

_It’s because of you. It’s because of you. It’s because of you._

 

She couldn’t help the mantra that was running through her mind. 

 

None of them would be out here if it wasn’t for her. If she hadn’t made them all come with her on what was starting to feel like a wild goose chase. They wouldn’t be —

 

“It’s not your fault,” whispered Lucas, as if he knew what she was thinking.

 

Max let out a shuddering breath and turned to face him.

 

“But if I hadn’t… if Billy hadn’t gone all this shit I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have caused this happen.” The words spilled out into air in a frantic hush as she tried to keep herself calm through it all. She could feel her chest beginning to constrict.

 

“Hey, hey. This isn’t on you,” Lucas urged her, bringing his hand up softly trace down her cheek, wiping away tears she hadn’t realized had escaped.

 

Max turned into his hand, nuzzling it slightly as she fought to control her breathing. The warmth of his palm was comforting and he cupped her face gently, letting her try to compose herself. Even in her panic, she had never felt so grounded until now, knowing that he was helping hold her from spiraling, tethered to comfort.

 

Her heaving slowly subsided and she nodded at him, giving him a watery smile. He echoed it, an endearing look in his eyes.

 

“Whatever Billy has done is on him,” he said softly. “But neither he, nor you, were the ones to kidnap Will and El. None of this is your fault.”

 

She nodded hesitantly, trying to allow herself to believe Lucas’ words. It was hard, but deep down she knew that she was right.

 

After that, she felt like she more able to get into the right mindset for what they needed to do. It was hard to grasp the transition from bounty hunt to rescue mission, but it was where they were at. Each of the scurried around, frantically repacking their supplies to keep out of sight while they were gone. And both in time that felt too quick, as well as seemingly hours later, they were ready to go.

 

“Alright,” Hopper announced gruffly. “It’s time to move.”

 

The walk to the river was silent.

 

His face contorted in distress, Mike was anxiously flexing his hands in and out of fists. His stride matched Hoppers, and Max even saw at one point the sheriff reach out and briefly grasp Mike’s shoulder in shared anxiety. Max’s heart yearned for both of them. Mike’s best friend and the girl he undoubtedly loved, Hopper’s daughter. Even in her simmering fear that this was still her own fault, she knew she couldn’t grasp what was going through their minds.

 

“Lucas and I can track their movements,” Dustin whispered once they had reached the clearing and he had indicated that this was where they would have been at. And from there, they began the hunt to rescue their friends from whatever had taken them.

 

She did her best to not picture any freak accidents that could have occurred to the two teens she had just been starting to get to know. The water was shallow but still swirled dangerously, dictated by the rocks underneath. She wasn’t sure she even knew all of the wildlife out here, but memories of the rattlesnakes sent shivers down her spine. She couldn’t even imagine what type of bigger animals were out there.

 

Max wasn’t sure she understood how the two of them were doing it.

 

Dustin walked slowly, crouched low to the ground. Checking, pausing, inspecting. He seemed to know exactly which broken twigs to check and which stones to examine. His movements were almost crablike as his eyes found the tracks that they were looking for, leading them hopefully towards their lost friends. Lucas’ body movements were similar, trailing just behind Lucas with an equal intensity of focus. They would whisper to each other, nodding towards the rest of the group or beckoning them with hurried waves of their arms.

 

She had never thought about the need to track anything, never needing to with the lifestyle that she grew up in. But it suddenly seemed like a very crucial skill.

 

As they eased away from the water and deeper into the night, they lost track somewhat of the direction they needed to go. They all agreed on the general area — it made sense for someone trying to get away quickly to follow the water. But it was hard to now when to stop and change angles. Max could feel herself getting wrapped up in anxiety again. The whispered thoughts of it being her fault pounded in her head. They had to find them. But she pushed it down and kept trekking with them, using the back of Mike’s head as her pull to keep walking. Hopper rounded them out at the tail, and he was even more silent than normal.

 

“Wait,” Dustin hissed suddenly, throwing up his fist to bring the others to a halt. 

 

They all collided as they stopped their urgent push forward, leaning forward to see what Dustin had spotted.

 

The ground in front of them dipped into a slant, leading back down to the winding water. There were more trees and shrubs, further up enough that the water brought the extra environmental protection to the area. There were also plenty of boulders making up for the extra open space, creating almost a circle around this part. It was clearly a safeguarded area, which seemed to indicate why they saw the reason that Dustin had stopped them. The encampment was small, only a couple of tents huddled together between the lone area of trees. The stream they’d been following had become smaller, bubbling just past everything on the edge of it all. In the center of the tents was a giant bonfire, a clear sign that these men were unthreatened by drawing awareness to themselves.

 

And next to the fire, crudely tied to a poll, were Will and El. 

 

Max felt Mike’s arm flinch next to hers, an instinctual reaching out. As she turned to hold him back, she saw that Hopper had beaten her to the punch, a large hand resting on Mike’s shoulder. But they both had a glint in their eye as they focused on the scene down below. Even in this moment of fury, they luckily seemed in control enough to not just barge down on the camp without even the smallest of plans.

 

A few men seemed to be patrolling the area, though Max imagined there was at least one inside one of the tents. 

 

The largest one was guarding El and Will. He had a fur hat, possibly beaver, on and an overgrown scruffy beard. The way he had a permanent sneer etched onto his pockmarked face made Max’s stomach curdle. From there, a narrow, squirrelly looking guy paced between the tents, seemingly talking to himself. And a third guy, broad and clean-cut, sat casually puffing on a pipe, facing the two teens from the stoop of his tent.

 

“Fur traders,” muttered Hopper, his eyes darting between each of the men.

 

“What do we do?” Dustin whispered frantically. “There’s only three of them. We can take ‘em, right?”

 

Hopper and Lucas shook their heads at the same time.

 

“Too risky,” Lucas whispered back.

 

“Will and El are right in the thick of it, we need to draw those men away so that they can’t just turn and hurt them,” Hop further explained.

 

They watched a minute longer, just in time for a fourth man to reveal himself. 

 

A raccoon fur hat on top of his head, the man stood shorter than the first but just as broad. A long sweeping scar across his face added a level of foreboding to him that made even Will and El stop squirming against their bindings. The party stilled up in the trees, waiting to see what would happen as they mentally formulated a plan.

 

“I imagine we can get a good deal for them Lavoie,” the squirrelly man said, launching himself towards the newer man. “I mean look at them two. Pretty faces. The boy’s not bad either, I know a couple of…”

 

He trailed off at the apparent disinterest from the man they now identified as Lavoie. His eyes had fixed on El and she seemed to freeze at the new attention directed at her.

 

Mike let out a small, muffled noise of distress and Max gripped his arm tightly.

 

Lavoie stalked over towards her and leaned down.

 

“I know you,” he said with a guttural voice, his French accent tinging the words.

 

El spat in his face.

 

Hopper groaned as they watched from afar, though the smallest part of him was glad that even in danger, his adopted daughter didn’t lose her spark. He could only pray it wouldn’t get her in more trouble.

 

Thankfully for everyone involved, the trader didn’t react violently. He wiped the glob of spit away with the back of his hand before reaching towards El. Will immediately reacted, shouting at him to leave her alone and straining against his ropes. Mike willingly held on to both Max and Dustin’s hands to hold himself back, and even Hopper had to let out a long breath through his nose to restrain himself. 

 

There was a loud rip and the sleeve of El’s dress had been yanked from her wrist, her skin glowing in the firelight beside them. 

 

Max couldn’t see what the man saw as he looked down triumphantly. 

 

He seemed satisfied though, straightening up and letting out a jovial laugh.

 

“This girl here is one of Brenner’s girls. Knew I’d seen that face before, got his brand and e’rything on her.” His eyes came back to her. “You grown up some, how’d you get away from him? This boy steal you away?”

 

_The idea would have seemed almost somewhat comical in any other situation, but not this one._

 

El stayed silent, her mouth sealed shut with pursed lips and a glare. 

 

“No matter. We’re going to hold onto them now,” Lavoie was now addressing the men again. “Brenner will want her back, might as well throw in the boy too. Reward will be handsome so don’t touch a hair on their heads, got it?”

 

The other men mumbled their understandings. The clean-cut man’s gaze was still glued to Will in a way that made Dustin shudder.

 

“Okay, _now_ we need to have a plan,” he hissed over to the rest of the party.

 

“How do we distract them?” Mike finally asked, his voice tight as he grit his teeth.

 

“I shoot one of them.”

 

Max whirled around to face Lucas, a coldness creeping over her. He was looking out at the camp, his gaze sharp even as he grimaced at the sight of everything. She realistically knew that he was the best shot in the group. He had to be the one to do it. But that didn’t make it any easier, imagining it being unsuccessful and him being the first one that the traders got to. 

 

Hopper nodded slowly, also not looking too pleased with their options.

 

“If you’re on the other side of us, it’ll throw them off our scent and we can descend down on them. You knocking at least one of them out would give us an advantage.”

 

Dustin seemed to be calculating the distance down to the lower ground, glancing over at Lucas. “Think you could aim for a second by the time we get down there?”

 

Lucas seemed confident enough, quickly checking his gun.

 

“I don’t see why not. I doubt any of you are going to be fast enough to interrupt a second shot,” he said, almost teasing but with more grim determination to match their situation.

 

“It’s a plan then. Get as many shots at them as you can, we’ll make our way down then to finish the job and grab Will and El,” Hopper instructed. They all nodded.

 

Lucas started to walk away when he stopped suddenly. The others were still looking out at the camp, but Max had never looked away from his retreating back and they stood face to face for a moment. It took only a beat before they quickly stepped to each other, Max’s hands capturing Lucas’ face while his arms slipped around her waist. 

 

Max was never one to put much stock into first kisses, but this one was intoxicating. 

 

It was nearly feverish in their fear of what was to come, quick and messy. It was searing as their lips pressed together, unable to imagine what was to come if they hadn’t at least done this once.

 

Max had never felt this way about anyone and she had to admit, the feelings had been slowly creeping up on her only to hit her full force at the idea of Lucas truly being in danger. And as much as fear gripped tightly at her, part of it felt natural. The wild spirit in her couldn’t imagine falling for someone in any other way besides this. Out in the rugged dessert, learning to instill deep trust in each other. She was never going to be able to just court a young man in town and go along with it. No — she needed to be where she felt the most free and herself. No doubt they’d have a lot more to talk about when this was all said and done, but for now she found herself lost in this brief moment.

 

Lucas’ hands grasped her waist desperately and they broke for air. Resting their foreheads against the others’, they quickly sucked in air.

 

“Come back to me,” Max whispered anxiously, tilting her head back to look at him anxiously.

 

“We’re going to see this through to the end,” Lucas solemnly promised.

 

It was enough — or at least it was going to have to be. Max’s hand dropped from his as she let him move into the darkness and away from their group.

 

No one said anything when she slipped back with the others, her lips tingling from the kiss. She wasn’t sure what had entirely come over her, causing her to act so against the manners she had been taught, but there had been no way that she was going to let him put himself in that much danger without kissing him at least once.

 

“Once he shoots, we make our way down,” Hopper was saying. Mike and Dustin nodded, both preparing their weapons. 

 

The gun seemed almost awkward in Mike’s hands and Max thought back to the time when El had told her about how she and Mike would spend hours in the small Hawkins Library where he worked. He was someone who belonged among books, reading about adventures not being in them. But even as his hands shook slightly, there was a determination on his face that impressed Max. Because god damn it, _he was going to be a part of this_.

 

Agonizing minutes past.

 

Max’s heart was a metronome against her chest. Thumping, counting time as it passed.

 

They could hear the voices down below and Max itched to quickly exact revenge on the kidnappers, but she knew they had to wait.

 

Her ribcage felt like it was going to burst.

 

The men were interrupted by a shot ringing out.

 

A yell from one of the men and Max watched as the thinner, squirrelly looking guy clutched at his chest, dropping to his knees with a gargled yell. In the light of the fire and the moonlight, she could see the blossoming of a dark color on his shirt. Blood from his wound. She silently cheered, her eyes darting over to the darkness where she knew Lucas had been. His accuracy was as good as it had been made out to seem and she thanked her lucky stars for it. Though as the rest of the men scrambled to grab their weapons, she desperately hoped that he had changed locations, moving deeper into the night.

 

“Let’s move,” hissed Hopper, not needing to tell any of them twice.

 

The men were all facing away from them and with Hopper in the lead, they began their descent. Their movements were jerky as they fought from just tumbling straight down the hill, but they kept as much speed as possible so that they could get closer.

 

A second shot was fired, this timefurther to the right.

 

Hopper let out a yell and burst into the open.

 

All hell began to break loose.

 

The giant man had been struck by Lucas’ second shot, this time in the knee and he staggered, bellowing in rage. El managed to rip herself free from the freed hand, thanks to the trapper earlier pulling it out to examine the mark on her arm. As the man lumbered past in pain before dropping down, she quickly snatched the knife from his waist and spun to start freeing Will.

 

Dustin ran towards the clean-cut man, who had pulled out a knife. Dustin’s pistol was at the ready and he fired, though the man seemed to duck away from it. 

 

Hopper charged for the man who had been examining El’s arm, a fury taking over his face. He didn’t even end up firing his gun, startling the man by nearly full on tackling him.

 

Max and Mike ran towards Will and El.

 

Up above, Max could hear the sound of Lucas racing down the rocky terrain, and she hoped against all hope that the men were all distracted enough that he wasn’t a moving target.

 

A quick glance to her right.

 

The first man who had been shot was dead.

 

One down, three to go.

 

With the help of his longer legs, Mike reached their friends first. He scrambled to help pull the ropes off of Will, El’s hands shaking as she did what she could. Will seemed rattled as well, and the closer Max got, the more she could see the damage the two of them had taken. Her stomach coiled in anger. A purple bruise shadowed Will’s cheekbone and El had a cut alongside her cheek. Both of their clothes were covered in dirt and grime, and what in Max could only assume was their blood. Or maybe their captors.

 

El passed the knife to Will who clutched it tightly, his face determined in a way that Max hadn’t seen before. Mike passed El the gun that she had brought along for their journey, something that she no doubt had wished she had kept with her when she and Will had gone to wash the dishes.

 

There wasn’t time to think about that though right now.

 

A loud groan of rage arose.

 

The man behind Mike shoved himself to his feet, staggering with the weight on his leg but moving forward all the same. His large fist swung back, preparing to make contact with the boy’s head — unbeknownst to Mike. Max didn’t even feel like she had time to shout, quickly throwing her gun up and firing.

 

Mike whirled around in time to see the man drop back down to his knees, blood splattered across his own face as the man’s face twisted in pain before he fell lifeless. 

 

They only had time for a brief nod between the two of them before they jumped back into the fray, now with Will and El by their side.

 

Hopper scrambled in his fight against the man named Lavoie. He had height on him, but they were nearly evenly matched in weight. A punch to left ear as he struggled to pin him down. Hopper head butted him back, seeing stars. They grappled, twisting and shoving. An attempted kick to the groin. A frantic burst of energy to claw the pistol out of his hands.

 

The image of El tied up was burned in Hopper’s mind.

 

Memories of raiding buildings, hauling trappers out by the neck and shoving them into handcuffs. Returning to look for more and instead finding a lost girl shoved in a closet. Her hands trembling and her mouth gagged. 

 

They had rescued five young children that night, all being prepped for human trafficking.

 

He had gained a daughter that night.

 

And he’d be damned if he was going to lose her again.

 

Dustin wasn’t sure if he had made the best decision in who he had decided to face head on. The man with the tightly shaved head grinned at him, though he eyed the pistol with apprehension. With size it was a different story, but men weren’t impenetrable to bullets, not even with a knife. 

 

He fired a warning shot.

 

It grazed the man’s gut and he cursed loudly, doubling over.

 

“You’re not going to win, you little bastard,” he growled. “Children playing dress up.”

 

Another shot to the ankle.

 

Dustin looked up to see Lucas standing behind the man, rifle raised. The two grinned at each other and began to advance in unison. The man suddenly seemed to squirm, hands darting to his waist to go the selection of weapons attached to his belt to replace the suddenly small knife against two guns.

 

El ran towards Hopper, Mike hot on her heels. Max and Will ran over to help the other boys. They had the upper hand going into this, but the ferocity of the two men left made for not-so comfortable advantage for them.

 

The man lunged at Lucas, knocking his rifle from his hands. His hands reached out to grab him, Lucas stumbling backwards to get out of his grasp.

 

“Get the fuck away from him,” Max shouted, doing the first thing that came to mind and swinging the butt of her gun at the man.

 

The smack against the back of his neck was satisfying, but she’d underestimated the power of his size and he spun around to aim for her. 

 

She hurried to right her gun back so she could fire, thought she was too late as he grabbed the muzzle. She was no match for him and she fought to hold onto it, seeing the boys hurry towards them. They’d created a sort of circle around the man. With a final yank, he wrenched the gun from her hands and casting it aside. He’d become like a trapped animal then, noting his odds as they continued to do their best to corner him. He paced between them. A pulsating vein in his neck budged and his eyes were wild as he stalked them with his gaze.

 

“Dad!” El shouted at Hopper as he found himself with the upper hand against Lavoie.

 

He didn’t dare look up.

 

“El, get out of here!” He yelled back, fighting to get a grip around the man’s neck.

 

“LOOK OUT!”

 

It was nearly a scream that burst from her and Hopper noticed just in time, the man’s arm sneaking under him to reach for the jagged knife he had.

 

He rolled them into a standing position, yanking his arms behind and doing his best to restrain him. Finally he looked up at El.

 

She was standing somewhat close to them, her gun raised up and her gaze steady. Mike stood prepared behind her, ready to do whatever he needed to in order to keep her safe.

 

“You’ve got this?” Hopper’s question was cautious. He couldn’t risk this going wrong.

 

She only nodded in response, cocking the gun and aiming.

 

They didn’t need to exchange any words. Just a silent nod.

 

Hopper shoved Lavoie forward.

 

It was a surprise to the fur trapper and he lost his footing, stumbling towards El.

 

The gleam in his eye quickly turned to horror as he realized he was headed straight towards his death.

 

It only took one shot.

 

El cooly lowered her gun, the man prostrate at her feet with a pool of blood forming from underneath his chest. Her breathing was controlled though her mouth was tight. Hopper almost couldn’t believe they had pulled it off.

 

The gunshot seemed to have alerted the final trapper to his stance as the last man standing.

 

Rather than give up though, it seemed to fuel him with a final burst of rage and he let out a final shout in French. No doubt some type of unpleasantry. And then he lurched forward and threw himself at Will.

 

The two fell to the ground.

 

Mike let out a shout and the party flew to them. Will’s slight frame was hidden by bulk of the man, but they watched as the larger man slowly rolled off of Will.

 

His cold, icy blue eyes stared unseeingly above.

 

A gleaming blade was shoved deep into his chest.

 

They all looked to Will, who in turn slowly sat up. He was out of breath and even in the dark they could see the stain of blood on his shirt. But it was a sign of victory and the slow exhale of relief and drop of his shoulders gave them the knowledge that he was unharmed.

 

The camp was then eerily silent. They hadn’t realized how much noise had come with their fight.

 

They all took a moment to look at each other — each a little worse for wear than earlier. Max’s chest burned from the quick inhales of oxygen she was taking in, realizing only now how much she had been relying on adrenaline to keep her going. Mike tightly held onto El in his arms, no longer seeming bound by unspoken nerves or societal pressure to remain proper. His face buried itself in her hair. Dustin had wrapped an arm around Will’s shoulders, the smaller boy leaning his head onto the other. He still gripped the knife in hard-fought victory. 

 

Lucas reached out and grasped Max’s hand and she gave him a shaky, smile.

 

“Let’s sweep for any supplies,” Hopper finally said. “Anything we can carry. Otherwise leave it all and let’s get out of here.”

 

* * *

 

It took more energy than Max would have thought they’d had, but they trudged further than they had been to set up a new camp for the night. Anything to distance themselves from what had just happened. It was still night, and with clouds masking the sky, it was hard to tell how late it was. How was it not morning already? How had that still taken place during the darkest hours and not gone on forever, as it had seemed?

 

Mike had his arm around El’s waist, and her hand was tightly holding Will’s as they walked. Hopper and Dustin were at the lead — guns drawn and mouths tightly shut. Even in her tired state, Max felt like she could feel and hear every noise that happened around them. It pushed and pulled on her exhaustion, leaving her twitching and anxious to sleep. Lucas would gently knock his shoulder into hers, a light tap to ground her as they kept making their way forward. And when the finally reached a place that Hopper deemed safe enough to stop at, they continued to move in silence as they set everything up. It was like a feeling of deja vu, but laced with hesitation and discomfort.

 

But as the camp neared completion, and Lucas lit a fire to warm them, it eased into more of a normalcy.

 

Dustin broke the silence first with a soft joke that made them all grin at first, eyeing each other before finally Hopper let out a deep belly laugh and they all relaxed.

 

“Hey.” Max turned to see Mike walking up to her, his arms crossed nervously over his chest.

 

“I just wanted to apologize,” he explained quickly before she could say anything. “I know… I know I’ve been acting like a bastard since you showed up asking for help. Which isn’t okay to do. And you haven’t deserved any of it.”

 

“Oh, well, thank you. I appreciate your apology,” Max stuttered out, her surprise at his apology slipping through.

 

He nodded slowly, clearly attempting to figure out if he was done or not. He finally spoke again, still unsure but his voice returning to its normal tone. 

 

“You helped a lot tonight, for people you barely know. That means a lot to me. And it’s okay if you’d rather not, but I’d like to start over and become your friend.”

 

Max grinned and stuck her hand out, thankful that at least out of this they were able to pull themselves out of the weird tension they’d been struggling with since beginning their journey. Mike smiled back and shook her hand, the two nodding before returning to the rest of the party.

 

That night, outside of the small party, was exactly as it should have been.

 

The moon had risen and the stars winked in the night sky. Some animals scurried underground to wait out the hours, while others woke up to thrive in the now cooler, dark environment. 

 

Nature as it was, did what was intended.

 

But for the party, something had shifted. A seemingly tedious journey with a single end-goal had been shoved into upheaval. They still had that goal, but it was going to be hard to tell if any of them were going to the be the same that night. Max certainly didn’t think she was going to be. This had all started out as something for her, a way to find closure and to secure the safety of her family. But she had extended that family into this found one, this ragtag bunch of teenagers and the gruff sheriff that had gotten pulled into this.

 

It wasn’t going to be the same for Will.

 

He sat taller, a confidence gracing him in a light that she hadn’t seen yet. The awkward shell he had kept himself in was gone, as if this version of him had been simmering underneath. He had taken back control and with it, seemed to have gained more of himself.

 

El had whispered a request to Mike and then had tightly gripped Hopper’s hands while Mike had carefully pressed a burning spoke to her wrist. She only let out a small whimper, but the tears remained unshed as she gratefully looked at the now unreadable number that had once been on her arm. It had been small and easy to forget, but tonight had rushed it all back at her. All of the memories that she had repressed. But she had taken it all back as well.

 

Later as Max crawled into her bedroll, her hand sneaking out to hold Lucas’ as they nodded off, she thought back on what they had gone through and thought about how it had changed her.

 

She supposed her story wasn’t quite over yet.

 

Once they found Billy, she had a feeling she’d be able to figure that part out. And maybe have a better idea of what a new life might mean after that. If tonight had proven anything, it was that the person she was holding hands with, as long as his friends, were people she wanted in her life from now on.


	7. The Ones She Trusts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Far away from where the party is reuniting with Will and El, different situations are arising back at Fort Hawkins. Nancy continues to struggle with her increasing panic about Barb’s disappearance, while also battling the her internal struggle when it comes to Steve and Jonathan. None of which gets easier when she enlists their help in searching for her best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmmmm didn’t I also start out the last chapter with the usual “oh it’s been a while” speech? In that case, I won’t go through it all again. I’m really determined to find a balance between this fic and my new fantasy AU (if you haven’t checked it out!) and make good progress on this. We’re almost to the end! Things are definitely going to start ramping up from here, which is exciting for me as a writer and hopefully you as the reader! 
> 
> I can’t make promises on the frequency of these uploads, but we’re almost there my friends and I promise we’ll make it. Not gonna leave this fic abandoned. And it definitely won't be another five months between updates!

Dusk was had fully settled on Fort Hawkins, clouds dotting the hazy purple sky and a hint of the moon hung above. 

 

Nancy sat anxiously outside the empty post office, her hands gripped the rough wood of the bench and letting it dig into her skin. Similarly, she chewed nervously on her lip as she waited, her ears perked for any sounds near her. She was waiting for Jonathan. She’d run into him earlier that day and he’d immediately picked up on the anxiety that was practically rolling off of her. Nearly breaking, she’d briefly caught him up on Barb’s disappearance. The words had barely left her lips when Jonathan had gently touched her shoulder with hand, asking what he could do to help her.

 

So now she was waiting for him, a rough plan in mind and her gun beside her.

 

They were going to retrace Barb’s steps that day, looking for any type of clue or indication where she could have gone. Her parents owned the town’s apothecary and she would often go out to help gather any local fauna that they could utilize. When Nancy had spoken with them, they’d mentioned it off the cuff that it was the last thing they remember Barb going off to do and Nancy grasped the lead like a lifeline. It wasn’t much, but it was more than just wandering the desert with nothing to go on. 

 

They’d agreed to meet in town, a middle point for their two homes that sat on opposite sides of the fort. It would have to be at night, as difficult as that made looking in the dark. Her mother would have been suspicious of her disappearing during the day, but in the evening with glasses of alcohol freely flowing between each parent, it was easy to sneak away. They didn’t need to know that both of their children had gone off. Their mother worried about Mike in her own way, but it wasn’t worth the fight to explain her need to find Barb.

 

Nancy finally spotted Jonathan walking towards her, his dark clothing blending him into the night with just small flashes of silver from his boots. 

 

“Are you ready?” 

 

Jonathan nodded, his even-shaggier-than-normal hair falling in front of his eyes and Nancy fought the urge to brush it away. It was harder than she had expected, her hand clenching into a fist to stop herself. It would be inappropriate and she couldn’t put either of them in that position. 

 

While they still had the light of the town, they paused to double check the guns that they brought with them. She knew that he didn’t love having one, being the most resistant to teach her when they were younger. But tonight they couldn’t afford to not be protected, not with them having to leave the safety of the town. Whether it was an animal or a human, there were too many threats out there to let themselves be caught off guard. She felt a swell of appreciation for Jonathan as she watched him put the gun back in the holster strapped to his waist.

 

But before they could leave the porch, a creaking came up behind them from the old wooden slats beneath them.

 

“Looks like I missed my invitation,” a voice came from behind them.

 

Nancy and Jonathan stopped, turning to see Steve’s alit by the lantern swaying gently from the porch roof of the bank. Even in the dim lighting of the night, it was impossible to miss the hurt expression on his face. 

 

“I can explain,” Nancy rushed to say, her stomach clenching. 

 

“I certainly hope so, if anyone sees you sneaking off with Jonathan in the dark I’m not sure what they’re going to have to say.” There wasn’t much venom to his tone, in fact it matched the hurt that was on his face. Jonathan hardly let himself believe that there’s a trace of jealousy. 

 

“It’s not like that,” she swore, stepping closer to him. “You both mean too much for me for it to be anything like that.”

 

_ None of them focused on the depth of meaning that was carried with that sentence _ . 

 

“Then explain.”

 

Steve crossed his arms over his chest, glancing between the two of them. It should have felt like old times with the three of them together, but instead it felt like they were sneaking around behind his back. Maybe not “felt” since it certainly appeared that way to him. But the ferociousness on Nancy’s face told him that he was possibly jumping the gun on them. So he held his breath and waited.

 

Watching as then Nancy’s expression fell, the tension that Steve was holding in his posture dropped away.

 

She looked sad and he couldn’t bear the sight. It hurt too much.

 

It also only took a moment or two for him to piece it together. His father may have never considered him that smart, but he was far from being a complete ignorant person.

 

“Is this about Barb? Or something else?” His voice grew quiet as he looked between the two of them. 

 

“It’s been three days Steve!” Her voice cracked as it jumped in pitch. “Three days since I was supposed to meet her, since she disappeared. Hell it could be longer than that, I hadn’t seen her for a couple of days before that.” She choked on the words, tears building up in her eyes from both fear and frustration.

 

She’d been trying so hard to hold herself together in the classroom. Not letting the children know how absolutely wrecked she was trying to piece this all together. It had been consuming her and she had to know what had happened to her best friend, and bring about justice for her if it was needed. Steve’s shoulders slumped as he listened to her, his face twisting in concern. 

 

It wasn’t his fault, Nancy knew that. But that hadn’t lessened the blow of him shrugging it all off.

 

“You hesitated,” she whispered. “You told me not to worry and while I appreciate it… I needed you to believe me. Work with me to find her. And so I turned to Jonathan. You two are the only ones I trust.”  _ With my life, _ hung on her lips but she couldn’t managed to say it out loud.

 

Jonathan remained silent, his hands deep in his pockets as he watched the two. His expression conveyed nothing; no bias or side-choosing would come from him. 

 

“I –– I can’t lose either of you,” Steve finally said, running a hand through his hair anxiously. “I’m sorry Nance, I really am.” He pulled his posture up, a determined look now taking over his face. “I’m coming with.”

 

Jonathan and Nancy seemed to be taken back by his suddenly confident statement.

 

“Are you sure?” Jonathan asked hesitantly, eyeing Steve curiously. It wasn’t an insulting question. It was almost a peace offering between them, testing the waters if Steve was really on their side.

 

He nodded, a smirk crossing his face. Now it really did feel like old times.

 

Exiting Hawkins was easy, the fort silent as the evening carried on. There wasn’t even a real bordering wall to define the land, letting them easily slip into the night. The lantern that Steve stolen banged against his knee, as they waited to light it until they were further out. No reason to draw attention to themselves before they needed to and they didn’t know how long they’d be out. For now they had the dying light of the day to guide them.

 

Nancy was overwhelmed by memories the further out they went.

 

_ Her and Barb grasping hands as they skipped out to hunt for wildflowers, tucking them in each other’s hair. Her dad, before he slipped into the dull persona he carried now, teaching her how to ride a horse and making it all the way from their property out to here, child-Nancy in awe of the vastness of the world around her. Vowing to protect each other against the world as they grew up, daydreaming about their futures. _

 

_ Sneaking out with Steve and Jonathan to look at the stars. Confiding in each other and finding safety in the openness, letting their fears escape into the night sky. Daring each other to see how far out they’d go, but always knowing they had their backs.  _

 

This trip doesn’t have any of those feelings.

 

Instead, Nancy was filled with rage and a shaking fear that rattled her with every breath. 

 

She had sworn she would protect Barb when she was little and by god she was going to do what she could. And if her deepest fear was true, she had to at least help find her. 

 

A half hour.

 

An hour.

 

It was hard to search when you had so few clues.

 

Nancy relied on her memory to carry her forward, her eyes sweeping the ground and using the small light they had to illuminate anything she thought could be a hint.

 

She couldn’t imagine giving up now, but it was getting increasingly harder to feel hopeful about any of this. Her mentality had gone from finding Barb to just hoping for any type of sign. It had been too many days for footprints to have remained. This was turning into a wild goose chase and Nancy was having a hard time admitting to herself that it always might have been one.

 

To their credit, neither Steve nor Jonathan encouraged her to turn around. They stayed steadfastly by her side, equally hunting the ground with their eyes.

 

It was Steve who found it found first though.

 

He’d started to wander ahead of the other two, his jaw clenched in determination. He waved the lantern in front of them, begging whatever could be out there to give them a sliver of hope. A sign. Anything.

 

And then there it was.

 

Jonathan bumped into Steve, not noticing the stop that he had come to in front of him. He began to grumble at him, but his voice trailed off as he looked ahead. 

 

Nancy let out a cry.

 

Hiking up her skirt, Nancy took off and the boys followed.

 

With only a handful of strides to get to the object, she then quickly fell to her knees and the boys came up beside her.

 

Steve raised the lantern and the group looked down. 

 

An overturned basket lay on its side. The woven material was dusty, as if it had been sitting here for multiple days. On the handle, a gingham ribbon lay muddy in its limp bow. 

 

It didn’t take either of the guys long to piece it together, even without Nancy falling to her knees and gingerly reaching out to touch it. They’d seen Barb carrying that basket multiple times, the ribbon changing out with the seasons and the basket filled with any of her discoveries for herself or her parents. There was no reason any of them could imagine that would cause her to leave it out here in the desert, not any mundane one at least. No, there was no safe explanation as to why this belonging was still out here but Barb wasn’t.

 

Nancy’s knuckles grew white as she clutched at it, her head bowed. 

 

Jonathan knelt beside her, his hand tentatively touching her upper back. She choked out a sob and leaned into him. His thumb rubbed gently against the fabric of her dress and he glanced up at Steve. His eyes implored the third member of their party to join them, and it didn’t take any convincing on Steve’s part. He dropped down to them, his hand slowly prying Nancy’s off the basket and cradling them in his.

 

The moment was brief as Nancy wrestled with the impending grief that was already threatening to swallow her. 

 

This was hardly proof of anything if it had been anyone else noticing it. A simple lost object. But Nancy knew in her heart that she wasn’t going to find Barb tonight. Not how she wanted to. It was like she had been able to feel death in the palm of her hand as the woven handle had dug into her skin. Or maybe it had been her fingernails as she had tightened her grip.

 

When her shaking subsided and the three had been silent for a bit longer, Nancy finally adjusted herself to sit on her feels. Tears tracked down her face and Steve softly brushed them away with his finger. They waited for her to speak.

 

Clearing her throat, Nancy brought herself up to a full upright position (with just a few wobbles).

 

“She’ll be close.”

 

And with that, she picked up the basket and continued in a new direction, straight out from where the baset had been.

 

The terrain around them changed gradually. The ground sloped up, scattered trees and cacti dotting the ground around them. None of them had been out this way before, usually falling back and returning to the fort before this point. The ridges around Hawkins identified more uncharted land. The trains hadn’t carved their way through here yet. The farmers didn’t bother going this far out when the soil was better to the south. 

 

Jonathan paused to catch his breath, his hands on his knees as he watched the two in front of them. Nancy definitely hadn’t mentioned they were going to be going uphill for any of this. But with Barb’s basket in hand, she seemed to have a new determination for their search. 

 

They continued on though, as if being led by a force they couldn’t see. 

 

The horizon was barely lit in late dusk, a murky purple now scattered with twinkling stars. But disrupting their view of the cresting hills and buttes was what stopped the trio in their tracks.

 

Cutting into the sky was a grouping of oil rigs, piercing the open air with their wooden cages. Three – no – four of them. 

 

Below them, wells of inky blackness that stood out even in the night, were giant holes that must have been previous dig sites for the oil.

 

The visual was too strong for all of them. Something must have lead Barb up this way. It could have been anything. An animal, a person. The image of her moved through their minds, her curls flying behind her as she raced towards or away from something. A hole coming out of nowhere. A fall to an unknown depth. Too far away from everyone to get attention, or her screams lost in the churning of the oil rig just up ahead.

 

It was gruesome and Nancy felt lightheaded. 

 

But all the same, she began to run forward.

 

“Nancy, stop. It’s too dangerous, you don’t know what they’ve done to the ground up there,” Jonathan urged, frowning as she attempted to push past him. Steve did his best to stop her as well, but with a quick wrench of her arm and a spin of her body, she was out of their grasps and running forward.

 

Her boots thudding on the hard packed dirt, Nancy felt the tears already running down her face. The ruined ground around her from the oil wells felt like a graveyard and she could feel it in her bones that Barb had been here. She just needed to see for herself. She had to know the truth, and once she did, she would get justice for her friend.

 

Jonathan and Steve barely had to steal a glance at each other before running after her. It didn’t matter what one of them got into, they would always follow one another. 

 

It didn’t take her too long, as if she was racing alongside the ghost of her best friend. It would have been one of the first holes amongst the dozens, and she came to a trembling stop. Her hands were shaking and she was barely able to hold herself up. She leaned over.

 

Barb’s basket now sat beside Nancy as she clutched their next, and last, clue. 

 

One of her shoes.

 

The boys caught up to her as she let out an aching cry into the night. It was inhuman, a wail ripped from her as a blind rage and sadness took over her. She didn’t care if someone was up in the lean to shack that rested just beyond up by the oil rig. The knowledge that someone had innocently died in a place like this, and especially her best friend, burned into her.

 

This time, Steve and Jonathan left her alone.

 

Her body shuddering, Nancy let the tears fall down her face with no moves to wipe them away. The hole she stood in front of mocked her. A wide open mouth. Hungry for someone to slip in it, plunging to the remnants of the remaining oil. 

 

Hands shaking, Nancy held onto the shoe as tightly as she could against her chest as if her heartbeat could reverse all of this. 

 

But it didn’t.

 

Instead the night’s wind began to pick up around them. The empty desert seemed to expand and grow around them, the horizon’s edge melting into the sky. Stars speckled the sky, faint and distant in the somewhat cloudy night. It was just another night in nature, unbothered by the lives of those living within it.

 

Eventually she felt herself return to normal. Or well, as normal as one could. Which at this point felt more like a hollowness.

 

Steve frowned as he looked around. He couldn’t bear this silence any longer.

 

“Oil drilling wasn’t approved for Hawkins. I was there when the general rode in and talked with Sheriff Hopper. They turned down the offer, the fort was too close to the oil. They would have had these right on top of us.” His voice was rough, doing everything he could to keep his head on straight through this.

 

“But it’s all here anyway,” hissed Nancy angrily, her hair flying as she whipped around to look at him. “They’re here though and no one knows about it. No one is being compensated for how this will affect our land.”

 

A pause and then from Jonathan, “They’re slant drilling.”

 

The other two turned to look at him.

 

He shrugged helplessly. “It’s a term that means they’re pulling from an angle instead of just down. They can cover more land, which is allowing them to get closer to Hawkins without us being aware of it. In Philadelphia a lot of oil men commissioned us to take photos of them or when they got grants to drill. They were some of the richest out there. Which also meant they loved talking about what they did, I picked up some phrases. Though to see it…”

 

They fall silent, looking around themselves and at each other.

 

“They’re going to drain it all,” Nancy found herself saying, kneeling down to run her hands along the side of the whole. Dirt slipped from her finger’s touch and sprinkled down into the darkness. “We have to tell someone. Hopper when he gets back. The general, whenever he returns.”

 

“And by doing it in secret, no one will be compensated for their land’s resources,” Steve continued. “And no one knows to be careful here like–” He cut himself off before saying Barb’s name. They all glanced again at the hole as if seeking her out. 

 

Nancy stood up abruptly, a new fire in her eyes. She clutched Barb’s shoe tightly to her chest and she face the hole. Swallowing deeply, she let out a long breath. She hadn’t been able to save her friend, but there was a way to bring justice to her friend. Her gaze slipped up to the oil rig and her eyes narrowed. She would bring down this operation if it was the last thing she did. She’d force their money from their hands to Barb’s just like they force the oil out of the ground. 

 

Suddenly a larger, brighter lantern light swung over them, creating harsh shadows of their own silhouettes in front of them. As well as someone else’s. The voice that rumbled behind them was loud and smelled of pipe smoke.

 

“Now what in the hell is going on here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (the extent of my research on oil drilling is watching _There Will Be Blood_ and Googling for about ten minutes please don't @ me)


End file.
